I'm Here for You
by Shadowed White Rosebud
Summary: After meeting a new girl at the School, the flock decides to take her along. She could be the best thing that ever happened to them, or the worst. How will Max react when they both struggle for the love of Iggy and Fang? Max/Iggy, Fang/OC & Max/Fang.
1. Merciful

**A/N- Welcome to my newest story! A new character will enter the flock, so if you don't like OC's, don't read! This is not a FAX story, but it is a romance so read on! Reviews are love. Main characters: Iggy, Max, Fang, new flock member. POV's are from Max and the new flock member, Airi's. **

**I hope you enjoy the newest story. **

**I'm Here for You**

**Chapter 1**

**Airi POV**

After months of waiting, the door to the cold, almost deserted, empty save for a few cages, dead lab finally opened. It groaned and creaked as light came streaming in, shining light on my still paler form, my once beautiful but now-stringy hair hung at my side. I straightened up, crouched in a fetal position before, a glimmer of hope in my blue eyes.

_Someone is here to save me. _

My blood ran cold as I realized that this was not a rescue. New prisoners would here, prisoners that would die in here as so many others did, and I had lifeless bodies in other cages around me to prove it. Two Erasers forced them in, but a piercing scream echoed through the cave, and the Eraser was kicked backward into the wall.

_No, no, no, they can't come here! _

They forced the prisoners back, the Eraser picking himself up and slapping whoever just kicked him. I recognized him, he was the only "patchy" Eraser in the lab, and he was famous for it. He took pleasure in making our lives harsh, until every one died. If he was to be their warden, the one who they depended on for a drop of water, a bit of food, they would surely die.

_You didn't die._

I am stronger than the rest of those sad experiments. I was created with wings, strong stamina, the ability to be near starvation without dying. Super powers, I would be a regular superhero if not for the damned cages. Others, mutants of humans and dogs, humans and amphibians, they all perished sooner or later. After over thirteen long years, I had managed to live, never finding my expiration date.

_I can't let them die! _

I bit back a horrible groan as the prisoners were finally dragged in. I gasped as I saw that there were six of them, some much younger than I. They looked positively human. I searched for gills, fangs, claws, fur, anything that would mark them inhuman, but they were all-around normal. So why were they at the school?

_Is that a…a dog with them? _

A small black Scottie trudged at their feet, _speaking_ in a sharp, high voice about how illegal it all was. Were they here only because of him? He would be dead by morning, I thought grimly. I looked at their faces. Three boys and three girls, there was a tall, blonde girl in combat boots and a fierce glare. A slightly taller dark boy, expressionless as all the dead bodies around me followed her closely. He was actually kind of handsome.

_They are all so strange…wait, there's more of them? _

The rest came filing through the door, a younger, frizzy haired girl with wide eyes, and a younger still boy with blonde hair and blue eyes. At his side trudged a smaller version of him, but she was a girl, with an outraged frown on her face, no doubt furious that they had been caught for whatever crime.

_Oh, my god. _

There was one more boy who walked through the door, a strawberry-blonde, not unlike myself, towering over the two oldest. I wondered if he was maybe twenty, he was so tall. He anxiously grabbed the youngest boy's hand, but he didn't even look for it. This would have been normal, if not for his pale eyes that screamed, _I am blind._

_It's not…_

My heart stopped. I hadn't expected this. I feel back against my cage, my heart hammering in my chest. They all spun around and looked at me, as if surprised that I was alive in this God-forsaken place. I gulped. "I…Iggy?" I rasped, this being my third day without water. Their eyes widened.

_I must look so horrible to them. _

I knew that. I hadn't bathed properly in my life here at the school. Born and created here, never escaped, how could I? I took medicine in the case of disease or parasites like lice or even fleas, considering the animal in me. My hair hanging limp at my side, so long, my skin so pale, half-starved, I knew what they were seeing. And I knew how weak my voice was. I managed a small nod, aching for an answer, a rejection, a "what's an Iggy?".

_Please no, please no, please no…_

The strawberry-blonde one looked straight ahead for a minute and then broke the silence in a tense voice, "Which one of you said that? Gazzy? This is no time for playing jokes." His voice cracked as he said the words. The older girl put a hand on his shoulder. "W-we didn't say that, Ig." Iggy almost fell back into the Eraser in shock.

_Oh, God, no…_

"Shut up!" yelled the Eraser, stabbing the strawberry-blonde with a rod as an electric shock shot out of it. The tall boy fell to the ground limply, and was scooped up by the tall dark one, who groaned. The Eraser, the harsh one, the "patchy" one, walked over to my cage and punched the bars harshly, making my cage rattle.

_Hurt me all you want, dog meat. It'll get you away from them. _

"Made some friends, have you, piggy? We don't allow friends here! Pray they'll last longer than a week, girly! These mutants may even last a month!" _Mutants? _So they _are_ concealing their powers. He walked away with a single kick to my cage, making me cringe in disgust and terror. Shoving them in cages too small for their appropriate sizes, I winced as the door closed again, leaving the whole place in almost complete darkness, if it had not been for a light bulb hung on the ceiling.

_We're safe…yet captured. All of us. And I will watch them die, too._

"Alright, you guys, start talking," said the tall boy with a nervous edge. "Who's playing tricks on the blind guy? You know, I thought you were better than that, considering how we're about to die, but some things never chang-" he was abruptly cut off as I repeated a bit more steadily, "Iggy?"

_Don't answer me. Let your name be…Bob. Yes, Bob. Bob is such a nice name._

He slowly turned his head toward the general direction of my voice. "Y-Yeah?"

I didn't want any of these games. If he was Iggy, let's make it clear. "Are you Iggy?"

"I answered you, didn't I?" he asked with some irritation. "Would you guys mine telling me what's going on?"

The youngest boy took a look at me. "Yeah…there's this girl here. She looks just like you, only…in girl form, I guess. I think she knows you."

I fell against my cage again. My fingers gripped the sides for support. Was he really Iggy? _My _Iggy? It seemed so long ago. It must have been over eight years. I remembered everyone, but they never remembered me, and I had to know if he was the Iggy I knew.

"Oh, he's the Iggy you know," piped the smaller girl. She beamed up at me. "And he definetly still remembers you, Airi."

His eyes widened, but he didn't look up. "Stop it now," he snapped. "You stop it right now! Don't play tricks on me, don't play with my feelings!" He yelled with rage as he reached through the bars of Angel's cage with perfect accuracy and grabbed her shirt collar. "I don't care if you're a six year old girl, you're going to get it now! Airi _can't_ be over there, Angel, and you and I both know it, because Airi _died,"_ he said, his voice cracking. "H-How did you find out? I never told you!"

Angel whimpered as he held her two feet off the ground with one hand. He didn't show mercy. His eyebrows pulled together and he glared down at her. My grip on the bars tightened as I threw myself at the front of the cage, and I choked out sobs, "She's not lying, Iggy! It's really me, it's really Airi, and I'm alive right here!"

He turned on me then, or whatever he thought wasn't me. "I was told that Airi died, idiot!" he spat in my direction. "When I was only _six!_ If you're a whitecoat, damnit, I'll kill you!" he roared, lunging towards the edge of his cage. "Don't tell me lies because I'm blind," he seethed. "She went through a door one day and she never came back. I didn't have to be told, but I was. I was told that there'd been a problem with her operation, and she _died_."

"Look, you idiot," I raged, "'She' is right in front of you! I'm here and I didn't die, ever, obviously! You know, most people would be happy at their best friend being alive, but you seem dead set on being dead. I didn't die from the night vision operation, they _enhanced _it! You all can barely see me, and I can see you in colors you've never seen before! When Bachelder kidnapped you from the school, I stayed here because _you _forgot _me_!"

Iggy was silent for a moment. He breathed out a huge sigh. "Look, I don't trust anything right now, and you know I can't see you, and I last heard your voice when I was six. So what can I do to make sure I know it's you?" he replied bitterly. "I'm sure this is all a joke. My hallucinations. Being back here has brought back to many memories."

"Because, loser, you used to complain to me when you were younger how there was a dark guy in your section of the School that would never talk to you, and kept hitting on this blonde girl, and it wasn't really amusing. You used to say how I was your only friend because that dark guy annoyed you. I used to say you were my best friend because you were. And when no one else was in hospital gowns except you and me, getting IVs, blood drawn, and shared a hospital room, I let you listen to whatever you wanted on TV."

The dark boy looked first at the blonde girl, then immediately at Iggy. "Do you mean me and Max? You thought I was hitting on Max? And you thought I was _annoying?_ Geez, man."

Iggy put his face in his hands. "That was a _secret,_ you idiot! That's why I told just you!" he fumed. "Real nice, Airi."

I smiled brightly and brought my hands together. "You called me Airi! You remember me! You believe me, loser!"

Iggy grunted. "You still call me 'loser'? Some things never change."

The middle girl with the frizzy hair inspected me. "Huh. She knows you. You know her. She's pretty. You remember her." She thought for a moment. "I don't like her much," she stated, and they all burst out laughing, except for Iggy, including me.

It was obvious that the younger girl had a sweet kind of crush on Iggy. She looked at him with admiration, but it was easily a case of unrequited love. Iggy looked much too old for her. When the older girl, Max, stopped laughing, she quickly said, "Guys! Iggy knows her. He likes her. She likes him. They're friends. We're obviously not going to stay here forever. When we break out, I'd like to take her with us." She waited for applause.

I sighed. "Max, your name was Max, right?" I guessed. "We're never getting out of here. It's obvious. We're gonna die in here," I moaned. "At least I got to see Iggy again before I die in half an hour."

Max rolled her eyes. "I always find a way out of sticky situations. Even if we've never been in this area of the school before, we're getting out. We always get out. We can't just leave you here. You're coming with us, whether you like it or not, Airi."

I smiled in spite of myself. She had that kind of determination, I just believed her automatically. I nodded. Iggy looked up suddenly. "Max, this is the worst wing of the school," he stated. Max nodded irritably and made the universal "duh" gesture. "Follow my logic here," he said. "Airi's probably gone about three days without food or water. Knowing the school, they probably feed us scraps and a small cup of water every three or four days, and they'll feed us all at once. Because we just got here, they'll wait three or four days to feed all of us together. By then, even someone as strong as Airi will die."

Everyone was silent, knowing he was right. "So, then, we have about twenty-four to forty-eight hours before I die," I joked. "No biggie."

"I'll find a way," said Max, and immediately went into emergency thinking mode.

* * *

The flock and Airi were asleep. There were no noises except for Gazzy's quiet snores, but I didn't need quiet, I needed a plan. A plan to save Airi. A plan to save us. A plan to bust us outta here. I snapped out of it when I heard the iron door open for a second time today.

Ari walked through the door. Alone. My eyes widened and I immediately feigned sleep, slumping against my cage, but I didn't fool him. "I know you're not asleep, Maximum Ride," he murmured lazily, then hastily unlocked my large cage, and stepped inside. He closed the cage door behind him and dropped the keys.

I backed up against the cage. "What are you…" I began, cringing as I smelled alcohol on his breath. "You're drunk!" I squealed as he leaned in and I shrank back even farther. I had to make a choice. It was my one opportunity, and I was lucky it had come the first day. So you would have done it too. …I think.

I popped back up abruptly, leaned in and kissed him without an ounce of hesitation, silently hoping that he bought it. Apparently he did, because he put his hand on my lower back.

_Freaking pervert!_

I closed my eyes and punched him hard, knocking him unconscious against the bars of the cage and wiping the Ari taste off my mouth. He was out cold, and I smirked as I grabbed the keys off the cage floor, stepped out and locked him inside. I unlocked the cages of the flock. I shook them awake, Airi last. "Guys, we have about two minutes before a bunch of Erasers and whitecoats show up to stop us from escaping. I know how to get out the way we came."

We were careful not to make a sound as we tiptoed to the large iron door. I grinned as we were about to get our freedom. I yanked it open as it revealed nearly 50 Erasers waiting for us.

_Oh, shit._

"Run!" I bellowed as we ran away from the door. Extending our wings, we all took off from the ground and rose to the ceiling. A piercing scream reached my ears, and I realized that Airi was still on the ground. "Fly, Airi, fly! Can't you fly?" I hollered at her, desperate for her to save herself as the Erasers ran after her. She was running like a maniac all over the warehouse floor. "Get off me, get off me!" she shouted as she shrieked and fought off the Erasers.

Fang and Iggy glanced at each other and nodded, even though Iggy couldn't see it. They flew down and grabbed Airi by each arm, flying back to the sky. "Kyaaaaa!" screamed Airi at the abrupt motion. "Don't drop me, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die!"

"I can't hear myself think with all your screaming!" hollered Fang. "I _will_ drop you if you keep screaming in my ear!" He and Iggy circled back around until we were facing all the Erasers on the floor. "They have guns," Airi whispered faintly. "We'll take care of it," Fang reassured her, and she offered one of her seemingly rare smiles.

She sure shut up and calmed down, even as we dodged bullets and put Nudge's power to use as she sent the metal cages flying at the Erasers. Angel set them fighting on each other in minutes, and Airi really seemed happy. And she should be. She was being carried by Iggy and _Fang, _I thought bitterly. _She really seems to like him,_ I thought. _But…but she could also like Iggy. Fang said he loved me. He said he chose me._

"Oh! Jesus!" I snapped as a bullet snapped right through my hair. _How could I have missed it! Shut up with your stupid thinking, Max! It wasn't like you and Fang were going to honeymoon on Paradise Island anyway._

As they ran after us on the floor, I smiled to see that they had left the door open. We zipped through the air and out the door, right over their heads. Landing and running through the school was trickier, but Airi guided us outside. Crashing through windows and cutting ourselves on broken glass, we burst out into the sunlight.

Total smiled and wagged his tail out of Angel's jacket, and I sighed with relief, I couldn't believe I had forgotten him. I was getting to be such a bad mother figure for all these kids.

I smiled to myself once we were high above the clouds again, where we always should be. I grimaced as I saw Airi looking really happy with Fang and Iggy. For now, at least, we were free again.

**Soo, how was it? **

**~Rachel**


	2. Mistake

**A/N- The second chapter of the story is here! It has taken me a while to update, but it's here now, and I hope that more people will be able to read, review and enjoy this story. This is probably going to be my favorite of my stories, because I really love Airi's character. **

**Thank you to those who review! =]**

**I'm Here for You**

**Chapter 2**

**Max POV**

Airi kicked open the door of the hotel room. "'Morning, guys! Up and at 'em!" she greeted them in my own patented friendly way, without realizing it. "I did the laundry for you all, and I brought some breakfast from downstairs!" she added cheerfully before dropping the neat pile on the bead. Seven sleepy pairs of eyes looked up at her. She must have felt strangely like a zoo animal. "Oh, come on! You guys never get up at 6:45?"

"Maybe when we're being attacked by Erasers," I yawned tiredly. "It happens to be a Saturday. A Saturday that we were planning on spending here. At this hotel. So there's really nothing to get up for, Airi." She looked at me with annoyance. _I know it was my idea, _I thought wearily, _but so far, taking her with us wasn't our best plan. _

"I was just trying to help, Max," Airi offered. "I'm really sorry about waking you all up." She nodded stiffly and turned to leave. I mentally winced as Iggy spoke up. I don't know why I even cared. My brother can do whatever he wants. I didn't care. Did I?

"Wait, Airi," called Iggy, knowing that she planned to leave. He stood up and walked over to her. He hugged her close to him, and I'm sure he smelled of sleep and morning breath, but Airi looked hopeful as anything. "You didn't know, I guess you're still new here," Iggy stated. "I guess getting up a little early would do us all some good."

When he said that, I felt like throwing up. If it were me or Fang, he wouldn't hesitate to punch us out or reply with some snide side comment. This was like a punch in the gut. She had been here for one day. Somehow watching my "brother" and his friend get all love-y in the hall wasn't cheering me up any.

"You should go take a shower, loser" she teased, shoving him at the bathroom. Oh, look. New girl has some common sense. Someone give her the $1,000 prize. "But thanks, anyway. It means a lot," she nodded, and sat down, brushing her hair. _When did she take a shower? And when did she steal my brush?_

_You're acting really petty, Max, _Angel thought hard at me. I was so startled. _I thought you chose Fang. You have no reason to hate Airi. She's been kind to you, _she continued. _Iggy's happy he got her back. So please, stop being so selfish. Let them have this. _

_You're turning on me now, too? _I sent the thought to her bitterly. _Gee, this Airi seems to be a real charmer. How do we even know we can trust her?_

I braced myself, and it came soon enough. _They had her in a dog crate, Max! _she sighed, exasperated with me. I would have been, too. _She needs to get used to freedom. She's only had a few hours, Max. You've had years, and I know they weren't all that great, but she hasn't had any. _

_Tell me the truth, Angel, _I glanced at Fang. _Tell me what she thinks of him. Tell me what she thinks of Iggy. Tell me what she's thinking of the flock. What does she think of me? _I tried to keep the panic out of my voice. Airi was very beautiful. With her strawberry-blonde hair down to the middle of her back, perfect skin, full lips and blue eyes, she could have been a model, if she was a little older.

_You can't tell anyone, _objected Angel. _I don't want to use this for the wrong purposes. Let's not abuse the mind-reading powers, _she added coldly. _I'll be totally honest with you. Airi looks up to you. She 'told' me she never had a sister. She hopes she can be yours. But don't replace us or anything! Anyway, she likes all of us, but she isn't sure what to think about Total. Let's be honest, no one does. _

_And Fang? And Iggy? _Now was not the time for pride. This was for my family. This was for the guy I was in love with. …I think.

She paused for a few seconds. _You can tell them nothing. It wouldn't be right if you did. But here it is anyway. Just, don't get angry, alright? She…she's interested in Fang. She's wondering…who you're with, if you've paired up. She thinks he's good-looking, certainly, and she thinks mysterious guys are hot. _She chuckled at this, then fell silent again as she regained her seriousness. _One more thing, Max…she's in love with Iggy…and he's in love with her._

I blinked. In love with Iggy? The feeling of knowing this made me sick, my stomach in a knot. Was she here to stay? Did they love each other? Why had he never told us about her? I blinked back hot tears, threatening to expose themselves to Angel. Breathe, Max. Fang said he loved you. Fang said he chose you. He doesn't love Airi.

I had an idea then. I shielded my thoughts from Angel by thinking distraction thoughts about a new 'plan' as I spoke to her. "Angel, I need to talk to Fang, but send Airi in the hall in exactly one minute. We both need to talk to her about how the flock works." A puzzled look crossed her face. "Can't you talk with the rest of us?" she asked me. "What do you need to talk in there for?"

"Oh, it's just older kid business," I brushed it off like it was nothing. "We'll only be a few minutes. But in exactly one minute from now, send her into the hall." I gazed over at Airi, feeling almost mean, but this was something I had to do. It was for Fang. Or, me and Fang. So I forced myself to cheerily stride over to Fang. "I need to talk to you in the hall, Fang."

He didn't look up from his magazine. "Um, reading," he said, like that was more important than me. I took the magazine out of his hands and slapped him with it. "Me. You. Hall. Now." He sighed. "There should totally be a more civilized way to do this." He followed me into the hall, past Airi. Her eyes were large and round as he walked past her, like he was the God of all things holy.

Taking my time out the door, I noticed we only had about thirty seconds. Poor Angel. I was almost ashamed that she had to be a part of this. Almost. Pulling Fang along with me before closing the door, making sure that he was between me and the door, his back to it, I smiled. This was so perfect. I convinced myself that she could have all the Iggy love that she wanted. But this was about Fang and I and how we were going to be together forever.

"What do you think about the new girl, Fang?" I asked as I twirled a piece of his hair around my finger and pressed myself up next to him. _I feel like such a bitch,_ I thought bitterly. I eagerly batted my eyelashes and offered him my best no-shower dazzling smile.

Fang shrugged nonchalantly, as he was with everything. "I don't know," he said evenly, his tone betraying nothing. It was time to dig deeper. "Do you think we can trust her?" I said just as evenly. Fang raised his eyebrows. "I guess," he replied calmly. "She seems nice."

"I can be nice, too, Fang," I said in an attractive, seductive voice, and leaned in closer. The door behind us opened quietly as Airi walked out, her head tilted as she examined the iPod she was borrowing from Iggy. She lifted her head while opening her mouth to say something, but was cut off as I looked straight at her, and kissed Fang on the mouth. Fang had no idea that she was there, but looked pleasantly surprised at me being the one to kiss him this time. His lips moved in sync with mine for a few moments, quietly unaware of Airi's heart breaking behind him.

I saw the breath leave her lungs, and I saw her turn and back away. Iggy's iPod dropped to the floor, and she took a deep, shuddering breath as she turned away and ran for it, all the way down the hall and out the emergency exit. Fang heard it, and spun around, but she was already gone. He leaned down and picked up Iggy's lime green nano, shoplifted of course, and quietly switched off the music. He turned around, his face clean of any emotion except a serene frown.

"You lied to me," he stated, not phrasing it as a question. "I thought you were making the first move this time, Max. I didn't want to do this. But if I knew you loved me, I figured I'd choose you all over again. I don't know how or why, but you hurt Airi just now. I didn't want to hurt her," he walked back inside, leaving me alone, slumping against the wall.

I just wanted to be with him. How could I have thought this would work? Let her be with him. Let her be with Iggy. I don't care.

_What have I done? _

**Airi POV**

I knew I was acting like I was ten years old again, despite all that I've seen in my thirteen years of life, as pathetic as it was, but this was different. Why did I feel this way? I hadn't even known him. It was Iggy who I'd known for years. It was Iggy who I was in love with, right? So why did I care so much what he did with that little slut? That's all she was. Did she even love him? Did she know how lucky she was?

My wings flew through the slits in Max's shirt that I was wearing. _She can have him. I'll go. Somewhere, anywhere. I have my freedom. _I stopped in my tracks and breathed deeply. _I knew I believed in love at first sight. Am I…in love? With Iggy? With Fang? Do they care for me? Would Iggy miss me? Would Fang notice me? _I should never have made the mistake of looking back, that was how I got in this mess in the first place. But I couldn't regret my decision. It would keep me with the Flock, for better or worse.

I heard the soft _ssk_ of feathers being folded back in, and I spun around, face to face with Iggy. "Go back inside, Iggy," I said with cold determination. "I'm leaving. It was nice to see you, you're alive. I won't ruin your life for you. I'm going. I-I'll see you around," I almost shouted, not even thinking coherently anymore. _This is all wrong…I love both of them…I can't leave them…_

He grabbed me by the wrist. "You're not going anywhere, Airi. I waited years thinking you were dead. I-I never let you go. You were the only one. Even if we were only six. I can't let you go now. You just got here. I heard what happened. I know it hurts."

I gulped. "Iggy, I'm so confused. Max has been so unwelcoming this morning, I don't know what I'm doing here…I'm even wishing I was back at the school," I chuckled half-heartedly. "I don't know why I can't leave…it's because of you…" I trailed off and looked up at him. He was smiling.

He looked off to the side nervously. "It may be a bad time, y'know, because you're confused and everything, but I really wanna kiss you right now."

I was so startled. Slowly I nodded. I'll never know if he knew, but he leaned in and gathered me in his arms anyway. He leaned down, and, ever so slightly, his lips brushed against mine. That might have been all, but I pulled him closer. It was almost brief and very sweet. I smiled through the kiss. This was my first. _Isn't this wrong, though? I'm not sure if I even love him. I think I love-_

I pulled back first and hugged him. "Thank you," I whispered. "Will you stay?" he asked hopefully. "I don't want you to go away again," he admitted. "It hurt too much when you died."

I laughed. "I didn't die, but I appreciate that you hurt a little at the thought of my death." I punched his shoulder. "You know what I mean," Iggy sighed. "I'm a guy. We're not especially good with words."

Not even I knew, at that moment, that Fang had appeared in the doorway.

**Max POV**

After leaving the hotel, the flock and I had somehow ended up at a casino in Las Vegas. I mean, legally, we're not old enough to gamble, but, you know how tall Iggy is. I didn't even know where Angel was, but I trusted all of them. Well, almost all of them. I didn't know how long it would be before Iggy, Fang or Gazzy stumbled in, drunk and reeling.

Iggy came flying out of the crowd, into the side of the bar that I was sitting at, clearly buzzed. Apparently not long enough. "Wha's 'appenin?" Iggy asked, his face alight with excitement. "Oh, hey, Max," he said casually enough. "This place is awesome. We should come here every…" he paused, squinting at the clock above me. "July 5, 1982," he croaked. I raised an eyebrow. "Sit down, Iggy," I said calmly.

"Okay," said Iggy, easily enough. "I kissed an Airi and I liked it…" he sang dreamily. "Max, that was awesome, me and Airi kissed, didja know that was my first kiss, Max? Didja?" My eyes widened, and I felt traitor tears welling up in my eyes. _This is stupid, _I reminded myself. _You had your first kiss way before he did. _"That's great, Ig," I forced myself to say. I felt like such a liar. I _was_ such a liar.

"Progress report," I changed the subject wearily. If he was even able to answer me. "Oh, yeah…the other guys…" said Iggy, still in his little dream state. "Angel and Gazzy are off flying around the planet Australia, Airi was off to the bathroom 'cause of some kind of alcohol she had, I think, and Fang…I didn't see Fang…" he finished lamely. I slapped my forehead. He didn't even know what he was talking about.

Airi bounced in and kissed Iggy on the cheek. I felt my blood boil but pushed down the blush and the anger that were threatening to surface themselves. "Airi, what did you have to drink?" She looked startled. "Nothing, Max," she answered, "I'm only thirteen." She turned back to Iggy and tapped his forehead. He fell off his chair and onto the floor. "What the hell?" she asked lightly.

Fang walked up to us distractedly, noticed Iggy on the floor and Airi helping him up, and his eyebrows came together as his anger was made clear. He had feelings for Airi. Airi set Iggy back in his chair and spun around to face Fang. "Hello," she squeaked. Fang closed his eyes and sighed, like he was having a mental battle. "Max, I need to talk to you," he finally said.

"Ok," I stammered, my heart hammering in my chest. _I can't get back with him, _I thought. _I'm scared. _

He led me outside, somewhat away from the noise. He led me around, down the street and away from them. He stopped right in front of me. "Kiss me," he demanded. His voice was so forceful that, even though I didn't want to, I kissed him anyway. It wasn't anything hungry or full of love. It was just a kiss.

After we broke apart, he finally spoke. "Nice, huh?" he asked. I nodded. Fang was a good kisser, and apparently he thought that I was too. "There's no love in it though," Fang said to me, and I realized that it was too. It was _just _a kiss. I didn't want it anymore. I didn't love him anymore. "There's nothing wrong with that," Fang began, "but if you're with the right person, it should feel…different," he searched for the right words. He paused. "Max, I'm not the one you're in love with," his eyes spoke for the silence.

I didn't love him. He didn't love me. It was different now. Things had changed with Airi. I didn't know how, but I was in love with…it couldn't be. Just because Fang was gone, didn't mean I had to run to another guy.

I nodded slowly. "Fang, she kissed Iggy," I looked up at him. "He loves her. She loves him. I…I think I'm in love with Iggy, Fang," and I sobbed into his chest. He stroked my hair, but we both knew this wasn't like the other times. We couldn't turn to each other.

I hadn't told him everything, but it seemed it was the same for all four of us. We were all confused.

Fang loved Airi…but some part of him loved me.

I was in love with Iggy now…but there was a part of me that ached for Fang to be there.

Airi thought she was in love with Iggy…but she wasn't really happy or satisfied with that, because she knew there was someone else who held her heart.

Iggy was in love with Airi, because he had loved her since he was six, but that was a child's love, and I had room in the part of him that loved now.

Everything was so wrong.

We were all with the wrong people.

The problem with Fang and I had been solved.

Had all our problems been solved?

**Airi POV**

Halfway through a glass of something alcoholic at the bar, I realized I had seriously grown up in a few days. Iggy was asleep at my side, and I didn't know what to do about this. I had convinced myself that I loved him, because he loved me.

Don't pretend you've never loved someone simply because he loved you. It's so classically teenage girl, to go for the one who made it clear that he liked you. It's always easier to go for the one who does all the work to please you. I loved Iggy because I had never been in love before, and he had told me he loved me. But I was also in love with Fang, I knew this now.

"Max…" I heard Iggy's voice mumble in his sleep. "Airi…" I heard Iggy's voice mumble again. I looked over at Iggy, but his mouth was closed and he was silent as ever. Peering over at Gazzy and Angel, I couldn't help but notice their laughter. I smiled too, and hugged them for a long time.

Where did that leave us now?

**This is a small cliffhanger, but this is a standard length for a chapter of mine. More drama and closure next chapter! **

**~Rachel**


	3. Mischievous

**A/N- It has become increasingly hard for me to update so many stories and keep up with each one, but I finally got this one finished. As promised, there's more closure in this chapter, which I lovelovelove. xD I'll just let you read it now. Thanks for reading/reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I can't believe that all the time I've been writing, I've never written a disclaimer. Which, not to say that it needs one. Fang and Iggy could come out in flamingo outfits and kick each other in the nuts for a half an hour in its place, and you wouldn't bat an eye. But here's one for the sake of having one, this is for all my stories, cause I'm that lazy. xD I in no way own Maximum Ride or its characters, Jame's Patterson's one lucky diphead.**

**I'm Here for You**

**Chapter 3**

**Airi POV **

I squinted as the sun glared down on us and warmed my wings, even at this altitude. I had steadily been gaining altitude, and was now far above the flock. It wasn't like they even noticed. Max and Fang seemed to be on good terms again, but they were far away from one another, treating each other as Max might treat Angel. What was going on with them? I knew they had left last night to go make out or something. Did they want to be that subtle?

Whatever. They weren't fooling anyone. As I flew on ahead, they finally saw me, and Max called out to me. "Where are you going, Ari? I'm sure you don't know the way to my mom's house!" She had a bright, happy smile on her face, but it looked more plastered on than anything else. Poor Max didn't want to show how happy she was about Fang and her, so she had to hide her huge smile. Traitor. I brushed the early-morning tears away with the back of my hand. My stomach hurt and my head felt awful. Stupid alcoholic beverage. I don't even look old enough to drink, damn bartender.

"Oh, just stretching my wings more, going faster, you know," I chirped with fake enthusiasm. Adding a loop-de-loop for good measure, I grimaced as Gazzy and Angel started joining me, cackling as they got in the way of Max, Fang and Iggy. "Sorry," I mouthed to Max, who shrugged.

"We'll be there soon," promised Max. "It's only in Arizona. Expect to be there in an hour or so." How long would we be staying at the home of this Doctor Martinez? I wondered. A while? Forever? Did they have another home to go to, or would this be it for me? It for us? Wherever we were going, whatever we would be doing, I had to make it clear to Fang and Iggy both, that I loved Fang, and that I didn't love Iggy.

I knew for a fact that Max wasn't the one who read minds. I knew because I had totally opened up to Angel mentally after the others had fallen asleep last night. She was the only one who knew about my problems. Yet, as if she had Angel's powers, Max added, "We're not living there forever, Airi. Life in Arizona has to be boring as hell. My mother says she knows people, her colleagues, who will know where to send us. Wherever we go, we're going to be happy," she chanted, as if trying to convince herself more than me. My heart softened as I couldn't blame her. It was obvious she had put up with a lot. Being trapped in a single place was probably enough to drive the poor girl nuts.

"I've been in the school for twelve years, Max," I answered her. "Wherever we decide to go, Arizona or elsewhere, is fine with me." She sighed, relieved that at least one would be happy, and went back to staring dead ahead, as if focused on the destination that she couldn't see yet. I felt a brief flicker of irritation with myself. I was supposed to be mad as hell at her, that backstabber. She had known. She had known about my feelings for Fang, and she had blown it in my face. I had been forced to kiss Iggy. I mean, of course I enjoyed it, it was my first kiss, and Iggy was a good kisser. But I didn't love him, or even remotely like him in that way.

_Oh, my God, Angel told her! _Fury built up inside me. _How else could she have known? Ugh, Angel, I'm going to kill you! _Keeping it subtle, she flew a few feet away from me, knowing I couldn't possibly get away with throwing a fork in her left eye slash chopping her wings off and throwing her down the Grand Canyon. There was always later, and plenty of time to plot my revenge.

_Oh, what a lovely picture, _Angel grimaced. _Please, please don't kill me. I promise I'll be good from now on, _she begged.

_Yeah, right, you little, _I breathed. _Like I'll ever tell you personal secrets again. _

She was silent, and I knew out little mental conversation was over.

**Max POV**

Being the leader is so hard. Especially when you have this bitchy little shit who's being so standoffish yet trying to be nice, not to mention stealing Iggy and Fang both. I mean, if she was outright angry to my face, at least I could kick her out or punch her or something. But she's freaking trying to be nice to me.

I hate her.

Angel coughed not far away and covered her smile with one hand. One thing I have in common with Airi: we're both going to kill her before long. Enjoy your last minutes of life, you little worm.

Let me take a moment to paint a picture for you.

Airi…Airi is...well. Let's put it this way. Remember when you were little and you and your friends used to hang out and there was always that one kid that was okay but you probably wouldn't call on the weekend if your mom wasn't best friends with their mom and despite your moooooooooom protests she'd tell you to take them along and you and your friends all wanted to play in the creek, but this loser whose daddy probably worked in management would say it wasn't a good idea because pollywogs gave them asthma?

Airi is _that_ kid.

Amazing, I know. We have _that _kid with us.

My apologies to those of you who are _that_ kid.

We had been flying for so long. It seemed like an hour since I had last told Airi how long it would be since we arrived, but I couldn't see a city even close, and we were going eighty miles an hour. Maybe it would turn up in a few minutes, and then we could see what my mother thought was such a great idea that we just _had _to see one of her lame friends. Not that my mom is lame, just, scientists in general are lame, as a rule.

"IT'S THERE IT'S THERE IT'S RIGHT OVER THERE!"

Oh, Jesus, Gazzy! Way to freaking wet yourself!

Letting myself fall to the earth then fanning my wings out behind me, I fluttered almost gracefully to land on Mom's doorstep.

**Airi POV**

Doctor Martinez was so nice, she almost didn't seem real. She made hundreds of cookies like it was nothing how much we ate, and they were all gone in seconds. I must have had the most, and received cold glares from Gazzy and Max. "Come on, guys, she's never had one of Dr. M's cookies," Fang announced, and they fell silent.

I was sharing a room with Max, Iggy was sharing with Fang, and Angel, Gazzy and Total were in another. I would sooner have shared a room with Gazzy than Max, which made for an awkward silence and no laughing, joy or fun.

I was alone, staring at Max's bunk bed above me, knowing she'd probably take enough stuff up there to break the bed and crush me in my sleep, leaving her unharmed -_always _ask for the top bunk-, when Doctor Martinez opened the door, dragging a man in with her. He had a lab coat and glasses, with tired eyes and an emotionless expression. I had seen him many times before. "Jeb," I greeted. "I see you're back. Here to apologize for leaving me behind to escape with your favorite experiments?" I asked politely.

"Hello, Airika," he said coldly, ignoring my question. "Be nice. The school's still looking for you, and just because I left doesn't mean I can't tip them off. I'm a bit hard up for money, you see." I growled at the mention of my full name. It was beautiful and he had not right to use it. "Turn me in," I challenged. "The flock will have your head on a stick." _Or would they? Nahhh, _I decided. _Max would dance for joy and throw a party on my grave. If they even had the heart to give me a grave. _

"I don't think so," he said evenly. "Besides, that's not why I'm here. I didn't come back to play the prodigal dad. I have a…a piece of information for you."

"What information?" I asked, morbidly curious. What else could that bastard possibly have up his sleeve?

"You've seen Iggy." As usual, beating around the bush. "You've also seen yourself since you washed your hair and fixed yourself up again." It wasn't a question. "You have the same strawberry blonde hair. You both have wings, and you were both given to the school. But Iggy has clear eyes because of his blindness, although they were once a piercing blue like yours. You remember that, when you last saw him, his eyes were normal, and he looked just like you, although you had never seen a mirror before."

"Where are you going with this? Angel looks just like Max, and they're not…"

Jeb looked at me expectantly.

"…"

"Iggy is your brother, Airika."

**Max POV**

The door to our room flew off the hinges, and Airi came out into the living room swearing like mad. "You don't just walk in here and say something like that! Have a heart, you emotionless bastard!" She was fuming, and she looked back into the room as Jeb and my mom tiredly walked out.

Airi looked horrified. What had they told her? If that bastard Jeb said anything to threaten her, even if I did hate her, he was going to get it. He was so heartless. Whether I liked it or not, she was a member of the flock now, and no one pisses off my flock. Nobody but me. Airi gave Jeb a look of pure hatred. Turning away, she slumped against the wall. "I had my first kiss with my own brother," she said faintly.

"Wha?" The banana Iggy was eating fell out of his mouth. "Airi's my sister?" He gaped as Jeb nodded gravely. "Oh, my God," he hissed, and groaned. "I liked it, too." My eyes narrowed. When had they – never mind. "Is there anything else you're not telling us?" he moaned. "Does Angel like to slaughter puppies? Is Fang a secret cross dresser? You know, actually, the second one's not such a far-fetched idea…" An evil smile lit up his face.

"I'm not a cross dresser!" yelled Fang. "Shouldn't we be asking if you're sure?" he demanded of Jeb.

Gazzy and Angel didn't speak, and neither did Nudge. They were probably still trying to digest the Iggy and Airi drama that had obviously happened behind their backs. Nudge looked at me, and she was probably wondering if anything happened between Fang and I. The others had noticed how I had been acting towards Fang today, too.

"I'm sure. I have Airi's blood from back at the school, I took Iggy's while he was sleeping, and they look nearly identical. It makes sense," he said calmly. Iggy's face was a mixture of pain and horror. If Jeb stole his blood, the man was crazier than I gave him credit for. Poor Iggy. He glanced at his arm, only to see that the mark was there, on the inside of his elbow.

"You stole my blood while I was sleeping?" he asked, horrified. "I feel so violated!" he collapsed on the couch dramatically. Airi was mortified. She took off her shoe and threw it at his head. Dang, that girl has good aim. "Eh, bigger problem, loser, we're _related!_" she sighed, exasperated. Iggy muttered something about his head being the problem.

"That's a problem?" Fang asked Airi mildly, and I snorted. After staring at me for a moment, Airi exploded. "Yes, it's a problem, idiot! If we're related, then…then…ugh, you know what, you're not a girl, so you don't understand!" She stormed off to her room and tried to slam the door, which was an odd effect because the door wasn't there anymore. After having a spazztastic mini tantrum, she disappeared into the room.

"…So do you really think I'm a cross dresser?" asked Fang a few moments later.

"Pig," I muttered, and walked into the bedroom with Airi as they continued to bicker about whether or not Fang could be a cross dresser. She was on the bottom bunk, her eyes closed. "Go away, Max," she said before I could even talk.

"Hey," I replied as I sat down next to her. "Look, Airi, I know it's uncomfortable. I know you probably liked it, and it's worse because he's your brother and he took your first kiss, but it's okay. You guys can probably laugh about it later," I offered. This felt so weird comforting Airi. I was supposed to be against her.

"Why the heck are you telling me this?" she asked angrily. "You hate me, and you've been such an overprotective snob, I mean, it's bad enough that you had to already be with Fang, but then you had to rub it in my face when you knew that I liked him, and you didn't even let me down gently. You know, you may be a year older than me, but you can still be a world-class bitch," she fumed.

"I was mad because I still loved Fang," I seethed. "I don't anymore. I'm giving him up. Now you can get both guys. Are you happy now? You get what you want."

"I don't love Iggy!" she whisper-hissed. "I kissed him because he was the next best thing!" I snorted out loud. "Okay, that would be really funny if he heard that," I admitted.

"You can have him," she said. "Don't humiliate me like that again, Max."

"Thanks, Airi. I…I really like Iggy."

"I know."

**Airi POV**

As far as I knew, the whole house was empty. I was the only one there, and I didn't really mind being deserted by the flock. This house had a TV, video games, lots of food, and lots of different makeup that Ella said I could have, which I was now experimenting with. I looked curiously at all the stuff in front of me. I had never seen any of it. I tried to see if there were instructions on the packages, but I guess they expect everyone to know stuff like that.

I would ask Max or Ella, but Max probably hasn't worn makeup in her life, and I don't need to look stupid in front of Ella or anything like that. Angel probably knows more about this than me.

The flock was gone. They had gone out shopping for new supplies and clothes, then to the movies, and maybe somewhere else. I kept hoping that Max would sit next to Iggy at the movies. Maybe she would get her first kiss with Iggy. Maybe they would get together. Maybe Fang and I would even be together one day. _Yeah, Airi. And maybe pigs will fly. _

Doctor Martinez had also begged earlier that day to take us all out to dinner. Even though I never had, I didn't feel comfortable with any crowds today. I didn't want to go anywhere. Running a brush absent-mindedly through my hair, I walked into the kitchen, grabbed a large bowl and a bag of microwave popcorn, and waited for the microwave to do its work.

After a few minutes, I grabbed the bag and the bowl and walked to the living room to sit on the couch. The second I sat down, I heard a muffled, "ouch!". I jumped up as Fang became visible on the couch below me. My face must have turned bright red. "Hey there," said Fang with a smile. I gaped at him. "You're not supposed to be home!"

He grinned. "Well I am."

"Why do you have to make yourself invisible to sit on the couch and watch TV?"

"I dunno. I felt like it."

"Whatever." I turned on my heel and made to walk out of the room, but he grabbed my wrist first.

"Hey, Airi?" I looked at him expectantly. Couldn't he see how uncomfortable this was for me? "When you were talking with Max in there, um, did you mean everything you said about me?" I glared at him.

"I can't believe you're asking me that. You…you eavesdropper! Pig," I growled, and yanked my arm free. "I don't know what I ever saw in you."

"So you did see something in me!" he cried enthusiastically. I raised one eyebrow.

"What I mean was, I saw you and Iggy…"

"You know, this really isn't helping you with the whole 'creepy stalker' thing."

"You don't still love Iggy, do you?"

"Gross."

"Good."

He pulled me in and pressed his lips to mine. He was leaner and harder than Iggy, and more firm as his lips moved with mine, and I was kissing him back, harder than I kissed Iggy. His arms snaked around my waist and cradled me against him as we continued to kiss.

He loved me too.

I heard a loud bark from behind me as we saw Total standing right there. He raised one eyebrow and trotted off. "I'll just leave you two alone," he murmured.

That was fine by us.

**Max POV**

Shopping was awful. All I needed were some basic clothes if I was going to save the world, but if I was going to quit that and look good at a new home, I had to have Nudge and Angel's advice on what to wear. I think I bought a ton of lousy girly crap. Plus, you know, all the makeup and shit Ella said I "need" to look pretty. Thanks, guys. There's a self-esteem booster.

Now I had to pay actual money to see some stupid movie with Robert Pattinson and some blonde chick, one of those romantic movies. Ew. As we made our way into the movie theater and bought the refreshments, I noticed we wouldn't all be sitting together. Nudge, Gazzy and Angel wanted to sit farther down, closer to the screen, and Ella and my mom wanted to sit up near the top. Iggy begged me to sit with him in the middle so he wouldn't be all alone.

Now would be a good time to save me, lazy freaks.

The previews started, and I probably would have eaten half the bag of popcorn if I wasn't so preoccupied with looking like a pig in front of Iggy. The movie eased into the opening credits, and I leaned back in my chair. I might as well have gone to sleep, this movie was going to be so stupid.

Halfway through, nothing interesting had happened. Iggy had eaten all the popcorn, nothing was going on in the movie, and I was hungry, thirsty and tired. Kill me. "You know, I have ears, Max. I'm blind, not deaf," he said all of a sudden. I looked up at him, startled. "W-what?"

"I heard everything you said in there with Airi. You can't exactly whisper, you know. You really suck at it," he grinned. "What were your exact words, 'I…I really like Iggy'?" he did a high imitation of my voice as he said the words, and my blood boiled. "What do you want from me? An explanation? An, 'I love you so much, Ig!'? You're not getting one, creep!" I glared at him. My signature glare of death.

"Max, you're not getting this. I'm asking you because I love you," he blurted, and then reddened significantly once it was out.

"Heh, heh, Iggy, you don't have to joke," I grimaced. Why were the seats in this theater too close together…?

He reached over, cupped my face in his hand then, and kissed me, full on the mouth. I was so hesitant, but when a cell phone rang somewhere behind me, it only made me jump and press myself closer against him. We continued on until the end of the movie, and past the end credits, until we heard giggling coming from the row in front of us, and we knew we had an audience.

"Looks like you guys enjoyed the movie," snickered Gazzy.

**Okay, so when I was trying to come up with a name for the Fang and Airi pairing, I got Fairi = Fairy. xDDD Oh, Fang would kill me. Okay, fail. I'll just go now. **

**~Rachel**


	4. Migrate

**A/N-I finally updated! 8D Ah, don't got much to say, just promised myself I wouldn't write anything over spring break, so you're getting this now. Anywhooo, enjoy this chapter. **

**I'm Here for You**

**Chapter 4**

**Airi POV**

I yawned and rubbed my eyes as I stepped out of my bedroom. I had been up for hours, and I was clean and in fresh clothes, and I was still tired as heck. Wandering into the living room, I could hear sounds coming from everywhere in the house, and I knew that everyone was getting ready. They would probably all be mad at me for hogging all the hot water to myself, but what can I say? I haven't had a whole lot of showers in the last thirteen years. Flopping down on the couch, I put my arm over my eyes to cover the blinding light that was spilling through the windows.

I felt warm breath on my ear in an instant as Fang materialized behind me, and it sent shivers up my spine. I took my arm off my eyes and looked up at him, smiling. "Morning," I grinned. He stroked my hair, leaning against the couch.

"You tired?" I shook my head. "Not anymore." He leaned in closer, closer…

It was immediately ruined by Gazzy. "Could you guys not do that in here?" He grumbled as he grabbed a banana from the fridge and collapsed on the armchair next to us.

"Don't worry about it, he disrupted the same thing between me and Max yesterday," Iggy groaned as he trudged in. I saw Fang flinch out of the corner of my eye, and I blinked away pathetic tears. Of course he would still care about her. It was only natural. I smelled something and I rolled over.

"Iggy? Have you taken a shower yet?" I inquired as I wrinkled my nose. Iggy shrugged, as if it was only natural that he should go around smelling like a pig. "Go!" I ordered him, and he sauntered off to the bathroom. As he exited, Max entered, desperately trying to fix her hair.

"Need some help?" Gazzy asked, far too obsessed with his little handheld game to care.

"Shut up," Max growled as she struggled to free the hairbrush from her hair. She ripped it straight out, taking a large chunk of hair with it. "Shit," she swore and held her head.

When she finally stopped rubbing her sore scalp, she brightened and smiled at all of us. "I have…I have some good news," she told us. "It's about our new home."

**Max POV**

"What new home?" I asked. "I thought we were just gonna stay here with your mom."

"Are you kidding?" Max looked genuinely surprised. "I love my mom and all, but it's just…it's just way too small. There's not enough room for us, and we're in a city in Arizona, so we can't even stretch our wings without running into someone that wants to take a picture of us. We need new space," she finished.

"Great, so we have new space," Fang backed her up. "Wait…where exactly is this 'new space'?"

Max smiled. "It's a facility built in the remote areas of New Mexico, not far from here, but too far away for anyone to find us or find out about us. It's…it's like a little indoor town. Basically, it's a house, but with everything we need. All of our food, places to hang out, restaurants, everything."

"I thought we were going to stay away from 'secret facilities' after the School happened," said Angel nonchalantly as she grabbed a juice box from the fridge.

"It's one of mom's scientist friends in CSM that told us about it. My mom is trusting that it's safe. Angel, Airi, we just got ourselves out of the school. If it isn't safe, we can handle it. And if it is, we should go. Take a break."

"This _break _of yours is interfering with our mission to save the world," Angel argued. "The mission we've pretty much been working on when _you, _Max, told us that we couldn't have a home."

"We can still save the world," Max said quietly. "Let's do what Fang wanted. Let's use his blog. The only thing we can do is spread the message that we need to reduce pollution, large corporations, and global warming. There's nothing else we can do. We can't keep killing people and bombing buildings, or we're no better than terrorists. But I don't want to fight anymore."

"I knew I should have been the leader," Angel hissed.

"Look here, you little ingrate," Max began. "You all think that I _like _fighting, but I hate it! I'm tired of all of this! We're kids, damnit, even if we're not normal! I want us to be a family again, just like we were! And I know I'm hardcore, and I know I'm not all warm and fuzzy, and I know damn good and well that I'm your leader, but sometimes enough is just enough. Point being, we're going to this new facility and you're going to _like it_." With finality, she marched out of the room.

"I can't believe she's doing this," Angel sighed.

"Quit it," Iggy hissed. "You know, she's right. She puts up with too much from us, you especially, Angel. She's doing all of this because we wanted a home, and she can't fight anymore. No matter what you think, you have no idea what it's like to be older, or to be the leader on top of that. And you know what? You never, _never_ will." The harsh words dug into Angel's skin, I could tell, and she ran out of the room.

Nudge brushed past her and entered the room solemnly. "She needed to be told."

I spoke up. "I think it's a great idea. A really wonderful idea. You all sound like all you do is fight and kill. How do you maintain a sense of humor, or live with yourselves? Doing what you do…you never realized that it isn't cool. It's slaughter, and it's terrible. You need to live for once. Live, not survive. If we go here, you can live."

I smiled with satisfaction as everyone nodded their heads.

**Max POV**

The private jet came at midnight and landed swiftly and quietly on the grass. The midnight air swirled around us as we made our way quickly onto it, trying to avoid being seen or heard. My mother had been sad to see us go, but we were only one state over. Guards had come and hurried us into the plane, and we sat comfortably as we took off as quickly as the plane had appeared.

We didn't have much. Our well-worn backpacks, what clothes we had, and any other small items that were ours. Celeste poked out of Angel's backpack, along with Total, sleeping peacefully inside. I rubbed my eyelids. I hoped the beds were freaking comfortable where we were going.

I had been reassured by the head of the facility that it would be calm, and for the most part, normal. It was really an "indoor city", with rooms for each of us, restaurants, shopping centers, a pool, a park, a movie theater, a gym, a library, the list goes on. The plus side for them was a little creepy. It seemed that the world wanted to "monitor" us, with cameras in each room to see how we adjusted to our surroundings. We were supposed to go on as if they weren't there.

If there was a hot shower waiting for me, I might have been able to do just that. No, there weren't cameras in the bathrooms, pervert.

It was supposed to be perfect for our family. Rather than it being weird that Iggy and I were together, Fang and Airi could be there, together also, and it would seem like more of a family because of two couples. We could all relax and be happy. I was desperately praying for this. It would all be fine.

**Airi POV**

The lights were on when we got there, even though it seemed as dark outside as that empty wing of the School that I was in before. I felt so out of place. Everything was so high-tech and top-secret and chrome. It was all polished and shiny. If I touched it, it was like I would soil it, and I had taken two showers that day to make up for all the time at the School.

We were escorted inside by the guards. It was well past one in the morning, and we were all tired as heck. Gazzy was hardly able to keep his eyes open, and I was leaning on Fang groggily. If I was any more alert, I would have been horribly embarrassed, but I was too tired to care about that now. The lights made me squint, and forced me to wake up. I straightened against Fang, and followed our leader inside.

"Maximum Ride?" A tall, middle-aged doctor stepped forward to greet Max. "Welcome to the city. I'm Doctor Harrison. As you can see, the city stayed up to wait for you," he chuckled. "I hope you'll find everything wonderful. We've certainly tried hard to make it wonderful for you. We were informed of how much food you need to consume per day, as well as your daily flight time, should you happen to require it. If you all have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask." His smile was warm and inviting, but I reminded myself that a snake could be hiding under any friendly face.

"Let me take you on a tour of our indoor city," he offered. Max looked like she wanted to strangle him, she was so tired, but she nodded politely and civilly. "Sure," she said somewhat reluctantly. He nodded and motioned for us to follow.

We walked through a maze of tiled hallways, with clean white paint and plaster, and crisp, fresh curtains on every window. We passed several rooms, some had lights on, others were turned off. All of the rooms had glass walls, so they were see-through, and on the insides of the ones that we could see, a formal hotel black and white color scheme was going on with a few elegant paintings and leather couches and chairs.

It was clear that the rooms wouldn't have a lot of privacy, but it wasn't like they were a dog crate, which was good enough for me. Potted plants lined the hallway here and there, and I could see that the hall continued on for a few more meters before we rounded a corner, and all of the apartment-like rooms ended. In their places were several large rooms, all with glass walls and lights on inside them.

In one room to my right was an Olympic-sized swimming pool, complete with four or five Jacuzzis lined along the wall and a sauna off to the side. Rows of towels lined one wall, loungers, tables and life guard chairs on the other. It was purely amazing. We all stared as Doctor Harrison started explaining. "This is our swimming pool," he announced. Like, no shit. "I hope it's big enough for you all. We tried to proportion it to your wing size and everything. You're welcome to use this whenever you want." He smiled.

"Let's continue," he offered once we were finished gaping.

**Max POV**

Dr. Impressive showed us through the next hallway. I was staring at the pool halfway down the hall. Next, he ushered us through a second set of –of course- clear glass doors, and I was struck with the urge to smash the whole place with a hammer. The entire freaking city was made with glass.

We entered a huge room with dim lights and a low ceiling. Beeping sounds came from everywhere, and once a light switch was flicked on, we saw rows and rows of pool tables, arcade games, and a huge snack bar. I'm sure every video game in the world was in there, and twice as many pool tables. A row of air hockey tables stood in the corner, and pinball machines clustered together, all eight of them. "Someone mind explaining any of this?" whined Iggy.

"Yeah, yeah, later," I said absently, still checking out the sweet arcade room.

"Blind!" he waved his hands in front of his face. I pointedly ignored him.

Gazzy ran up to an old Pac-man machine. "Sweet, it works!" he cried, pumping his fist in the air and turning it on. The machine sprang to live, rainbow-dots flashing around the spring as the pixels formed together to get a yellow circle consuming the white dots that Gazzy knew so well.

"This, too, is for your personal use," Dr. Harrison added. "Would you like to see the rest of it?" we nodded eagerly.

He escorted us out, and farther down the hall, into a room with a huge cathedral ceiling and bookshelves twenty feet high. Every book probably in the human language, complete with children's books and adult literature, was in that room. "You got any brail?" Iggy grabbed a book off the shelf and started flipping through it.

"Of course," Dr. H answered. "When you come back, the librarian will help you. She's off duty now. Shall we continue?"

He led us to a small room –yes, made of glass- across from the library, where large black and white pictures of various outfits hung on the walls and magazines filled hundreds of shelves, covering the walls. Nudge pulled one out. "It's a fashion magazine," she clarified. "It has hundreds of designs in it. Why's there a room full of them?" she asked, pulling another one off the shelf and flipping through it.

"Well," began Dr. Harrison, "of course, you're going to need new clothes at some point, probably as soon as tomorrow morning. You'll all have premade wardrobes ready, but if you ever want something, you can come in here and have it made. These are all magazines designed especially for you teens." He looked at Fang. "I imagine you'll be fairly simple to design for," he observed, taking in Fang's black shirt, jeans, shoes and jacket.

"Hey, Doc," Gazzy started. "I'd really love to continue, but it's about two-thirty in the morning. Do you think we could figure the rest of it out tomorrow?" He yawned loudly to prove his point. Doctor Harrison chuckled. "Sure. You can all look around tomorrow morning. I'll show you all to your rooms," he added, and took us back down the long hallway.

**Airi POV**

Hours later, hours after we had arrived, I was still awake in my first-class room. The glass walls and openness made me uneasy, and so did the fact that I had a huge suite, consisting of a bedroom, a bathroom complete with huge shower and whirlpool bathtub, a living room and a mini-kitchen. I couldn't see anyone else for how far away they were, but I was sure that I was the only one awake. All the lights were out, and if I turned mine on, I would wake them all up. So I was sitting in darkness. Total darkness.

I was frightened. I didn't think I would, but I was longing for Max's mom's small house, the closed-off rooms, sleeping in the same room as someone else, even with experiments. This place was creepier than the School after dark. I didn't even have enough courage to walk into the kitchen and get something to eat out of the mini-fridge, even though I was starving. All I had was the iPod nano in my hand and the laptop in front of me, which, thankfully, barely emitted any light.

That was it. I slammed it shut. Enough was enough. I was majorly creeped out. I took the iPod out of my ears and tiptoed out of my bedroom, into the living room and through the "front door" until I was out in that hallway from before. It was pitch-black and I couldn't see a thing. I ran into walls or glass more than once, and I stumbled in a door. I walked around, dazed, for a few seconds, until I stumbled and fell.

It was wet and hot and I felt like I was drowning. When I could breathe again, I felt around and noticed that I had fallen in the whirlpools in the Olympic-sized pool room. Getting out, I couldn't even find a towel. I crawled miserably to the edge of the room and felt my way to the door.

Once again I was out in the hall. I crawled on my hands and knees for about five yards and then stumbled to my feet. Wet and shivering, I huddled in a corner next to a potted plant for a few minutes, crying and sniffling quietly to myself. Where was the freaking light switch in this place? I didn't care if I woke anyone up anymore. I got on my knees and inched along the wall. The tile that had seemed so bright and clean this morning cut my knees and legs as I crawled, and dark blood that I couldn't see flowed onto them. Even my night vision wasn't working properly. This was impossible darkness.

After feeling along the glass wall for a light switch that wasn't there, I tumbled through an open door and hit my head on more glass. I slowly got to my feet, but my scratched knees were killing me. I stumbled to what I thought was the door, but it was only farther into the same room. I grasped something for support, something that felt oddly like a frying pan. I grabbed something else, a large pot. I was apparently in some sort of kitchen.

I backed up and hit my head on something three feet shorter than me. I felt around, and it was a head full of curly hair attached to a small body. "Angel?" I wondered aloud. The small head nodded. "What are you doing here?"

"The same thing you're doing. I couldn't sleep. This place creeps me out," she explained. "Listen, Airi. We're in the main kitchen, where all of our food gets made, only we haven't had any yet because we got here late. I know because I was sneaking around before all the lights were turned out."

"Listen," I was trying to be optimistic. "I'm sure that we'll get used to it once the lights are on. I'm sure we'll all get to love it here once we're here for a while, okay?"

"I can tell you're just telling me what I want to hear," she said bluntly.

"Dang, mind reader. I forgot," I muttered.

**Max POV**

I was sure that I heard talking down the hall from my room. Didn't those stupid scientists know how dangerous I could be without any sleep? I was going to go bash their heads in for dragging us here in the dead of night and then robbing me of some much-needed sleep. Honestly, the jerks in the world.

I inched my way out of the bedroom and into the living room. I found my bag on the couch, and unzipped it quickly. I snatched up an object from the bag and turned it on. Good thing I remembered to bring a flashlight. Maximum Ride always comes prepared.

I slipped quietly into the hall with the flashlight leading my way. As I rounded the corner, I could hear two girl voices whispering. I hate having great hearing.

I crossed into the overly large kitchen. The voices froze.

**Airi POV**

I immediately switched over to telepathically communicating when I saw the light shining in the room. Angel and I ducked under a cabinet and silently opened the door, crawling inside. Or, I crawled and dragged Angel inside. It was so risky; there were a million pots and pans that we could tip over and give ourselves away. But if we just sat there, that someone could be anyone, anyone that wanted to find us or hurt us.

_Who is that? Why are they here? _I panicked. _Are they here to kill us? _

"Shut up for a minute, Airi," whispered Angel. After pausing a moment, she finally spoke. "It's okay," she clarified. "It's only Max, and she's pissed because we woke her up. At least _someone_ got some sleep."

"Damn right I did," Max yanked the cabinet door open. "Why the heck are you awake? Were you hungry? Did you not _like _it here, Angel? Do you want to be the leader now, for the hundredth time? Is that it-"

"Max!" we both shouted halfway through her little rant. She blinked twice and watched in horror as the rows and rows of pots and pans fell and clattered to the floor. They rolled off of shelves, out of cabinets, and onto the floor. A few almost hit us, too. Her yelling had caused all of the pots and pans to come loose, dragging silverware, plates and glasses with them. The ones that were fragile broke immediately. The broken glass sprang towards our skin, and I buried my head in my arms. Several shards caught on my hands and arms, and I cried out as it stung.

Max leapt out and immediately started catching things. Angel and I ran to help her, and we all caught several plates and cups, but it wasn't even half of what was coming. Huge objects like cooking pots and large bowls came crashing down. "Abandon it, duck and cover!" Max hissed, and dropped everything in her arms. As I was crawling away, I was struck with a frying pan and dropped to the ground.

The last thing I saw was a figure in the doorway.

**Max POV**

"Airi!" I lunged and grabbed her as I saw the frying pan hit her on the head. Damn, she was unconscious. This wasn't good. "Uh, Max," Angel whispered, and pointed at a dark shadow in the doorway. I pointed my flashlight straight at it, to which the figure shrank away. I looked at it. "Dr. Harrison?" I asked, puzzled.

"What in the world is going on here?" he asked, hurrying us out of the room and therefore out of the danger zone. "And what happened to her?" he poked Airi with his finger, and Angel snorted.

"Airi and I were up because we were hungry," she lied like a pro, "and Max came into the kitchen because she heard us talking. We got scared that we might be in trouble for being up to get food, so we accidentally knocked everything over. We're sorry," she hung her head in fake shame.

Dr. Harrison couldn't help but feel sorry for her. All he saw was a little girl who looked horribly ashamed of just being hungry, not a little demon who was ungrateful, despite me giving her a new home. He patted her on the head. "No harm done, we can always get more plates. But I will need you two to clean up what's left. Then you can take this girl back to her room," he said. "Please be quick and quiet, I'm sure your friends are trying to sleep. I'll be off." He turned and walked away.

I sighed and trudged back into the kitchen, and Angel and I started picking silverware and what was left of the plates up off of the floor. When I woke up in the morning, I was still on the kitchen floor, cuddling a frying pan.

**~Rachel**


	5. Mind

**A/N - Well, another chapter, at least. I have no idea what to say here, and I already posted a disclaimer for this story, so wtf, just go ahead and read. Skip my rambling. xD**

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 5**

**Max POV**

First, let me take the opportunity to say something. No matter how screwed up you are in the head, no matter how many drinks you had this morning, no matter how much you smoke, hell, no matter how much your crazed great-aunt Mabel –what are you talking about? Everyone has a crazed great aunt- tries to convince you, a frying pan doesn't make a good teddy bear. End. Of. Story.

Alright. Now that I got that off my chest, I can continue on, shall I? Turns out I was the last one to wake up that day. And when I did, Iggy was crouched in front of me, poking me with an inquisitive expression on his face. "Arrrgh!" I shrieked, and the frying pan sprang out of my hands as I jumped up, hitting him squarely in the head and knocking him over in a dead faint.

"How the freak long were you sitting there poking me, you stalker?" I asked the unconscious Iggy as he rested on the kitchen floor. "And how do I wake you up now?" I grinned slowly as a particular idea came to mind. But it would take some work. I had no idea how much Iggy ate for breakfast that morning, but it must have been the equivalent of two elephants and their babies.

Slowly, slowly, I grabbed his hands and dragged him out the door and down the hallway. Receiving odd stares and passing glances from scientists, I stuck my tongue out at each one, and they pointedly looked away. It was slow work, he was so heavy, but I finally reached my destination. Buh-bye kitchen and crazed aunt Mabel's frying pan. Hello, Olympic-sized swimming pool.

Grinning evilly, I dragged him the edge and peered down at him for a moment. "Poor thing. You have no idea what's coming," I sighed, and gave him one last smile before I rolled him in.

He came up sputtering with a cry of rage, and looked around wildly, momentarily forgetting his blindness. When it dawned on him, his (blind) eyes narrowed, and he folded his arms over his chest. "Okay, give yourself up. Who's playing tricks on the blind guy?" I knew that if I was Fang, I would have gotten beaten to a pulp then by the blind guy. But I wasn't Fang.

Quickly and quietly, I snaked my way into the pool and pressed myself to him, my lips coming up to meet his as my arms wrapped slowly around his neck. When realization washed over him, he smiled. "Max," he whispered against my lips. "Only you would do this." And he kissed me back with such a force that made my head spin.

**Airi POV**

When I woke up in the glass city, despite the feelings of the previous night, it was the best feeling in the world. It wasn't creepy at all in the day, and let's face it, I was in a bed, and it might as well have been a hotel. After a long shower with hot water that never ran out and the best cup of coffee in the whole world along with an entirely awesome wardrobe that looked like it was designed just for me, I felt like a million bucks. No, better.

In the hall, I ran into Gazzy and a bucket of half a million water balloons, the biggest you've ever seen. This was not good. "Gazzy, what are you doing with those?" I asked nonchalantly despite knowing that he was definitely up to something he was going to regret later.

And out it came. "Well, see, Airi, there's this one place waaaaaay up there above this entire place that no one can see because the ceilings are the only part not made of glass, so all I gotta do is wait up there with these and wait for people to come out and when they do they get pelted with water balloons and when they turn around they won't be able to see me because I'll duck!" he exclaimed cheerfully. "Now all I need is someone to help me and since Iggy and Max are in loooove he can't." He looked up at me hopefully.

You know, forget I asked. I'm never asking Gazzy what he's doing ever again. The answer's never good, and, now that I know, I'm involved. "No!" I stamped my foot. "I'm not nearly that irresponsible that I'd do something like that, scientists are people too." He looked at me skeptically. I sighed and gave in. "Okay, you got me. Scientists are dirty bastards. But if we get caught, you take the blame."

"With pleasure," he cackled. "Follow me."

I grabbed one of the buckets of water balloons and followed him up a door that was obviously for staff only and up onto the roof. Compared to in there, everything was bright with natural sunlight, not fluorescent light bulbs. The sky was positively cloudless, and a wonderful shade of blue. But we weren't exactly focusing on that. "Over here," Gazzy dragged me over to the edge. "The front door's right below us. There'll be trucks coming soon with food for the kitchens. That's how they get food. They have everything brought to them. That means, delivery trucks with delivery people that we can splatter with water bombs," he chuckled.

"You're evil," I raised an eyebrow. "I like the way you think." That might have been the moment that Gazzy became my new best friend. Not a brother, not a Fang. My best friend.

"Shhh, shhh, here they come," said Gazzy excitedly. "Duck and don't show yourself until it's time to pelt them with water balloons!" And he ducked so they couldn't see him. I quickly followed his lead before I was caught. The trucks had large crates of food in them, marked under different labels, meat, vegetables, bread, etc. I had a sudden horrid thought that they had so much so they could fatten us up just to eat us, just like in the stories, which I giggled at a few seconds later.

Gazzy hit me on the head. "Quiet, you'll blow our cover!" he frowned at me. Four or five of them picked up the crates and prepared to walk inside. Gazzy and I had the water balloons in both hands, and popped up before they could make it, throwing water balloons like crazy. I got the ones closer to home, while Gazzy worked on the ones farther back by the trucks.

We never missed once, and they all scattered, unable to see just who was throwing them all. All of a sudden, Dr. Harrison came running out, looking all around for the culprits with a determined expression on his face. "Aha!" –really? 'Aha!'?- he cried, pointing straight at us for a split second before a water balloon of Gazzy's hit him square in the face.

My heart pounded as I thought of the worst possible case scenario. We would get kicked out, Max would kill us, we would be out of a home and we would have to move again, and have to act like terrorists again. All because Gazzy decided to hit Dr. Impressive square in the face with a water balloon. I was more surprised than ever when Dr. Harrison doubled over in laughter and wiped the water off his face good-naturedly.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad here after all.

**Max POV**

It hadn't been fifteen minutes yet, and Iggy and I were still by the pool, pressed against each other to the edge. I hadn't kissed anyone, not even Fang, like this. I hoped the others didn't walk in on us this time. It was so typical of Angel and Gazzy to pry into everything these days. I didn't know how Nudge was taking all of this. I knew she had a crush on Iggy, too. How did she feel about us together?

Ah, to heck with it. She was eleven, I was positively sure she could deal. She could always hook up with Gazzy if she felt like it.

Oh, God, I take that back. That's utterly disgusting to think about.

Iggy's hands trailed over my bath and his tongue over my lower lip. I opened my mouth to his and continued on in the shallow end of the pool.

**Airi POV**

"I think that's the last of it," I told Gazzy as we finished picking up the pieces of the water balloons that had fallen all over the roof. "You can go in now," I added. "I want to stay out here for a little while longer. Go see what Nudge and Angel are doing." He nodded and rolled his eyes as he picked up the bucket full of balloons and went inside.

I literally couldn't see anything for miles and miles, or even after that, except desert and a long, stretching road. It's because of things like this that I'm not too worried about global warming, if you know what I mean. As long as we have places like this left, you know the world isn't getting destroyed by "pollution" and "global warming" anytime soon.

I think what's the saddest is that I wasted my time thinking about this until Fang showed up, and I was ready to practically roll over. He sat down next to me, my feet dangling over the side of the roof. "What's up?" he asked casually, but I knew it meant something.

"Should I be asking you the same question?"

He chuckled strangely. "I was just down there thinking, we hardly know anything about each other. At first I was worried that I couldn't trust you, and that you might be a traitor sent from the School. And I don't have a problem admitting it now; why am I so in love with you, Airi? I love you and I hardly know you."

I shrugged and bowed my head to keep the blush out of my cheeks. "I guess there's plenty of time for us to know each other," I thought aloud.

And he smiled. Fang of the flock actually smiled, the best smile of all. "Your full name's Airika, right?" he remembered.

"Yeah, like Erica," I agreed. "I wanted to be original, I guess."

"What's your nickname?"

"Trick question?"

"What do you like to do for fun?"

"Have I _had _a lot of fun in my thirteen point five years?"

"Touché. Three facts about you no one knows?"

"I'm perfectly ambidextrous, extremely flexible and in my inner thoughts, I'm a very serious person."

"Three incredibly useless facts about you that no one knows?"

"I've never had a candy bar in my life, I hate squirrels, and I'm probably the only one in the world who doesn't know who Chuck Norris is."

"You don't know who Chuck Norris is? For real?"

"Fo sho'."

"What do you know about me?"

"You're dark and silent, but not because you want to be."

"You'd be exactly right, there."

"Do you have a nickname?"

"Fnick."

"What's the story there?"

"It's a long one."

"Why are you dark and silent?"

"If I were to talk a lot, people wouldn't think I had as much dignity as I pretend to have."

"Why do you care what people think?"

"I have to have the dark guy image to go with my emo hair."

"Do you really love me?"

"Do you love me?"

"Yes."

"Yes."

**Max POV**

After hearing Angel's and Gazzy's footsteps down the hall, I had gotten the heck out of the pool faster than you can say "busted". I ran down the opposite end of the hall and rounded the corner before they could see me, my soaked clothes leaving a trail of water on the clean floors and into my room. Unfortunately, they _did _have the security cameras in the bedrooms, so we changed in the bathrooms.

"Are you kidding me? All they gave me is the freaking skimpy white bikini? Oh, that's great. Why don't I just run down the hall stark naked in the middle of the morning yelling at the top of my lungs but it won't make a difference because Iggy can't _see_ it," I grumbled as I changed into said skimpy white bikini.

"Way to make me look paler," I sighed as I combed the heck out of my hair and brushed my teeth at the same time. Seriously, give me the Nobel prize. I pulled on one of my old long T-shirts and a pair of flip-flops and walked down the wet hall, which the employees were busy scrubbing. "Heh, heh, sorry," I said to them awkwardly, and ran once I got past them.

"Aaaaaaaaahrggh!" I screamed, running through the door and flinging myself into the pool in a cannonball. "Ow, God!" I cried as I clutched my now injured foot. "Someone tell me next time if I'm jumping into the four-foot end!" I glared at the mind-reader sitting next to me at the edge of the pool.

"Well, that sounded graceful," Iggy commented as he wiped the water from his eyes and blinked rapidly. "You guys warn me if something's gonna happen to get water in my eyes. I don't know it's coming, you know. Even if I wasn't blind to begin with, I'm certainly blind now thanks to that chlorine."

"You're such a whiner," I raised an eyebrow, shivering. "Geez, when did it get so cold?"

"When you stopped cuddling Iggy," Angel sang cheerfully.

"You just watch yourself," Iggy snapped.

Bubbles came to the surface of the water quickly, and Gazzy poked his head up a few seconds later. "I'm done," I said, realization spreading across my face. "Don't ever do that in here again, Gazzy." And I dragged Iggy along with me and into the hot tub.

I saw Angel look at us once more and turn away angrily toward Gazzy. "Stop trying to push them together. I hate it. You know how much Nudge loves Iggy. She loved him longer than Max. So I don't think Max should be with Iggy."

"Then why do you want Airi to be with Fang?" Gazzy smirked at her as the tears welled up in my eyes. I was thankful that Iggy couldn't see. First Angel didn't want me to be with Fang, and now Iggy? Who could I be with, then?

Angel looked straight at me. _You can't be with anyone, Max. Your job as the leader means you work alone, without any of them. They distract you, make it harder for you to live on your own. You need to lead us, not worry about your romantic life right now. I was happy when you and Fang split up. It meant that you could concentrate on the mission, finally. _

My eyes widened. _What? Listen, Angel, _

_No, you listen. _Even in her thoughts, her voice was hard. _Let's face it. When you're together with someone, all you can think of is that person. I hear your thoughts. You two are in love. But you also love us, and it's your job to lead us. That's why you were chosen as leader. I know when we chose you, you didn't need the love of someone else, but now you do. _

_What are you saying?_

_I'm saying it's time to make a choice. It's been time for a while now. You choose us, to lead us, or you choose Iggy. But you can't have both. Choose, Max. Choose. _

**Airi POV**

I laughed with him for a few minutes, then it died. I felt a question rise to the surface. "Why are you like this with me?" I asked him. "You're so free and easy to talk to, and you laugh and smile, and you actually talk. You're so silent with everyone else, so why are you only like this with me? I think everyone would like to see it."

He sighed and looked down. "When I was in the School, I had to be really hard and really strong, as young as, like, four years old. When we got out, I was way older, and it was a life I adapted too, but in my mind, I'm a normal person, like Iggy or Gazzy."

"If you can call Gazzy normal."

"My point is, I like talking, and I like thinking, and I'm not really dark, other than really liking black. I love chocolate as much as the next person, I laugh in my mind all the time, and I'm ashamed to say I listened to the Jonas Brothers, but not more than once." He shuddered.

"So why only with me?"

"Because you're the same way. You're happy, and open, and they aren't. I don't know how you can be so happy after thirteen years at the School, but you are, and it hasn't made you harder like it did to them."

I didn't tell him, but I was happy that he saved his smiles for me.

**Max POV**

I bit my lip as I knocked on the door of Iggy's room. I know that right before I do something hard, I think it's the hardest thing I've ever done. But this wouldn't be. Giving up being the leader was giving up the flock, and that would be the hardest thing I'd ever done. But damn, this felt hard. I almost didn't knock, but in the end, I knew I had to.

"Iggy," I said before he could say anything. "I need to talk to you. C-can I sit down?" It broke my heart as he smiled when his hand took mine and pulled me in. I thought of all I'd seen of him in all the years. Iggy as a kid in the School, losing his eyesight. Iggy escaping from the School with me, the joy on his face. Iggy growing up with me, an enormous pain in the butt. Iggy punching out Erasers. Iggy saving my life countless times. Iggy kissing me. Iggy, Iggy.

Did I want to do this? Wasn't he all that I had wanted? Did I want to just throw him away after all we'd been through? Did I want to choose the flock over a forever with Iggy? If it was over now, it was over, and there was no going back. I felt the tears streaming down my face as I realized this was the end for us. The end of Iggy and I.

Whatever happened to feeling like I couldn't live without him? I knew I loved him more than anything in the world. What did I have to love, if I didn't love him?

"What do you want to talk about?" he asked once we were sitting down. He couldn't see the tears in my eyes, couldn't sense the sadness around me. Couldn't see how I was going to break his heart any second now. I kept the sadness out of my voice. "I choose the flock," I said, as bluntly as I possibly could.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Angel told me that I have to choose you or the flock. I have to choose you, and give up being the leader, or choose being the leader, and give you up. I-I chose the flock. I chose being their leader." There were tears in my eyes as it came crashing out.

"I figured you'd be okay. It's not something I want to do. Iggy, I love you. I love you more than anything, but I can't give up being their leader. It's all that I've ever known. I-It's not fair to them, that I can be with you."

"Max," he began.

"Damn it!" I exploded. "Why can't you just shove me away, let me go! I don't want your kindness! I want you to yell at me, and tell me to go away, so that I won't have to miss you so much, so that I won't see you every day and know I'm not with you anymore! Tell me to go away, please!" I was sobbing in hysterics now.

"I don't want you to go," he said quietly.

"That's the problem," tears streamed down my face. "I don't want to go either. But what choice do I have? You tell me. It's better if I leave, with them. You don't need me, and as much as I really love you, they need me."

He reached for my hand, but I wrenched it away. "I'm ending this before it starts. I thought I'd end it before I ever fell in love with you, but it's too late. I'm going to try to make you my brother again. I'll leave completely if I can't." I stood up to leave, and halfway out the door, he grabbed for my hand again.

"Max," he spun us around and pushed me up against the wall. "You didn't ask what I wanted, and I don't want you to leave," he gritted his teeth. "To hell with what those little bastards think, what they want. Who do I have if you leave! You've been everything, the only one I wanted, for years! Damn it, you finally left Fang, and now you have to leave me too? Give me some time. Max, I _love _you!"

"I love you too," I breathed, even though I begged myself not to.

"That's all I needed to hear," he sighed, and his lips fell on mine, and captured them in a heated and passionate kiss. It didn't taste like a goodbye, it felt like a hello, a new beginning, and I knew I had made my decision. Salty tears mixed in the kiss as I realized I couldn't ever leave him.

I guess that was the end of my being the leader. But then, I thought, if I got Iggy in exchange for not being the leader, I would never be the leader again. I had always thought I was going to be with Fang, but it had never been as strong as this. I would never have given it up for Fang.

"Don't you dare leave," he whispered as he broke the kiss. "Don't you ever leave. Not for them, don't let them push you around. I'm here, and I'll always be here, but I need you here too. So don't listen to them.

I had to give a meek nod.

**Airi POV**

Fang and I sat on one end of the round table with Max and Iggy, while Gazzy, Angel and Total sat on the side across from us, though I didn't know where Nudge was. For some reason I looked at this as a challenge. I would stick with Max, whatever her choice was. These brats had always had their asses saved by Max, from the sounds of it, and I took that into consideration.

"Have you made your decision?" Angel looked at us coldly, and Max nodded, staring her down. "Let's hear it," Angel said.

Max held up her hand, intertwined with Iggy's. "I choose him," she said evenly.

"I hoped it wouldn't be like this," Angel began. "I don't want to be the leader. I was so hoping you would give him up. No offense, Ig." Iggy growled at her. "So I brought in someone who can lead us, without me having to lead you."

"Someone to put your sorry lovey-dovey asses in place," said Gazzy. I wanted to slap him for his profanity.

"Someone who won't make out in front of us," said a still-scarred Total. "Sorry," I mouthed, but he humph-ed and stuck his nose up in a different direction.

"Just tell us who you got to replace me," Max growled, blushing slightly at Total's comment.

"Only the best," said Angel, who snapped her fingers. "Get in here," she commanded to whoever was behind the door.

"Hey, guys," Nudge said as she walked through the door. "Hi, Max."

**For the record, I DO have a crazed great-aunt, but her name's Diana, not Mabel. And I had to have Max choose Iggy, because I love the Miggy so damn much. Don't kill me! Review! **

**~Rachel**


	6. Malevolance

**A/N-Okay, just to make everything clear, Airi's name is pronounced Air-ee. Her full name is Airika, pronounced Air-ih-kuh. So, there. Just so there's not any confusuion. Also, I don't want you to think too badly of Angel in this chapter. I would probably feel angry at Max, too. **

**I'm Here for You**

**Chapter 6**

**Max POV**

"Nudge?" all four of us gaped at her as she walked through the door and sat down, eyeing us coldly. "What the heck?" I burst out. "You're an eleven year old, and you're going to be our leader? Are you all off your nut? All together you have an average age of eight and a half, which is not old enough to lead this flock!"

"What were you expecting us to do, Max, bring in another member of the flock?" Angel raised an eyebrow. I nodded slightly. What? It's what I would have expected of Angel – to bring in someone that she could manipulate easily. "We don't work like that, Max," she said. "Nudge is the only one close enough to your age that's not all lovey with each other all the time. So we choose her."

Fury welled up inside me. "Listen, you skinny-ass twit, just who do you think you're dealing with? I've saved your ass countless times, and you're about to pay me back by handing me your head on a silver platter. Now, listen closely. If you don't want me to rip your head off your body, glue it back on, and rip it off again, cut the crap now."

"There's no crap now, Max. You all have made it clear you want to pair up, and love makes you unable to lead anyone without thinking of the other person. So we make the decisions now, and you don't give orders, you take them."

I stood up and glared. "You…you…you little bitch!" I exclaimed. "I can't believe you, after everything we've done for you, you're gonna make us follow you, Gazzy, Nudge and the dog?"

"I am not a dog!" Total barked sharply.

"Shut up!" I yelled in his face. "The point is, we're too old to be taking your shit, and we're not!"

"Oh, yes you are," said Angel quietly. "Because if you don't, I'll control you. I'll control your very minds. So, if you don't want to do this the hard way, I suggest that you sit down, Max."

I sat down in my chair, defeated. This couldn't be happening. I couldn't be giving up the leadership to Nudge, the one who had always followed me and been on my side. It was all over now. I couldn't live without Iggy; I would have to live without being the leader.

"No!" Airi jumped out of her chair. "You little brat, throwing around your powers like that! You owe Max your freaking life, after what happened a year ago back at the School. You don't remember me, but I remember you, and Max and the others saved your life! I refuse to follow your rules, and I won't! Max is, and will always be, the leader. Butt out of her life, it doesn't matter who she pairs up with!" she defended me like I was her sister.

Angel raised an eyebrow, and Airi's eyes got large and zombie-like. "Sit down, Airi," she said coldly, and Airi plopped down in her chair emptily. "Those who haven't even been in the flock that long should learn to keep their mouths shut," she said, unflinching as Fang gripped the table, his knuckles white.

Suddenly, he lunged across the table and grabbed Angel by the shirt collar. He held her three feet above the air, but she didn't bother to kick and struggle. She waited patiently for him to speak, and speak he did. "What did you do to her? Stop controlling her, you little demon! Let her go!"

A tear pooled in Angel's eye as she did the same to Fang, and his eyes grew round as he dropped her and staggered back into his chair. It appeared that he was trying to fight it, having been prepared for it, but he was no match for her, and soon became tired and limp in his chair. "You listen, Max!" Angel cried, the tears spilling now. "You can't keep ignoring us and making out with Iggy like you don't care about us! I need you to take care of us, and you can't do that while you're with Iggy! I hoped you would choose us, but you didn't. But just remember, if you ever try to hurt me or talk back, I control all of your minds." And with a sob, she ran from the room.

Fang and Airi gasped as they awoke from Angel's trance, their eyes returning to normal and the color creeping back into their faces. They gave one terrified look at each other. "Damn, she's good," said Fang, who was breathing heavily from trying to fight it. "She can probably control everyone in this building if she wanted to. She's dangerous, you guys. There's literally nothing we can do."

I buried my head in my hands and felt Iggy's arm around my shoulders. "Don't start to think, don't you even start to consider what she said, Max. You know that I love you, and Fang loves Airi. We're not going to let her win. I'll help you get through this."

"Me too," said Airi, and she put her arm around my other shoulder. She looked at Fang expectantly, trying to get him into the group hug, too. He shook his head vigorously, claiming he "didn't do hugs".

"Fang, get over here now," I growled, and he reluctantly leaned into the group hug.

"So, now we have to follow Nudge?" I asked helplessly. "Oh, man. This isn't good. She already practically hates me for destroying her little-kid crush on Iggy, now she's gonna use to torment me forever. The way I see it, we have two options."

"What two options?" Iggy asked, genuinely interested.

"Okay. So the first involves a carving knife and a suitcase," I began. Airi wrinkled her nose. "You don't even know what I was going to say!" I cried.

"And I don't want to," she said evenly.

"Whatever," I growled. "The second is getting on Nudge and Angel's better side, and give them a reason for wanting me back as leader. We'll have to make their life as the leaders so hard that they'll come running back to me to save them, just like always."

"You know, that could actually work," Fang mused. "Let's do it. Let's make them think that being the leader is too hard, so that they want you back, Max. We'll all have to work hard, but it could really work."

"I'm in," said Airi. Iggy nodded with determination.

"I'll get started," said Fang excitedly. "I'll come back when I'm done."

And so begun the plan to destroy Nudge's leadership abilities.

**Airi POV**

An hour and a half after Angel's little conference, I was in the library, looking secretly for some book that could teach me the ABC's and how to say them. I'd never been to school in my life, so it wasn't exactly like I could read and write. I mean, you weren't born knowing either, and I didn't have any kindergarten teacher.

Now I was at the back of the library hunting on my hands and knees, and standing on my tiptoes, all to find a book so that I could read. I was a birdkid, for crying out loud. Why did I even want to read? Oh, well. It was too late to give up now.

I started coughing. I think I forgot that I was allergic to books. …Or it was the dust. Yeah, it was probably the dust.

I blew dust off an old book in the kids' section with some letters on the cover and pictures of things like an apple, a bus, and a cat. Well. Those must stand for letters, then, I figured, so I grabbed it and tried to make my way through the maze of bookshelves. I ran straight into Gazzy as I rounded a corner, and he glared at me and bumped me as he stalked past. "Hold up a minute!" I hissed at him as I followed him. "What's with the hostility? I thought we were friends!"

"Why should we be friends? You're against Angel and I and Nudge and Total, and you're with Fang. You're a traitor, and all you care about is your boyfriend, so whatever friendship we had is over!" he declared.

"You liked me just fine earlier, and I was dating Fang then! Remember throwing water balloons? I was dating Fang right as we threw them at Dr. Harrison, and you didn't care! You were having fun with me! So why do you hate me all of a sudden?"

"I don't have time to stand here and talk to you," he snarled ferociously. "Also, nice ABC book. Maybe tomorrow I can teach you how to ride a bike with training wheels." I didn't want to admit to him that I had actually never ridden a bike at all, and would probably fail even with training wheels, whatever they were.

"Well I don't need a little brat like you!" I stomped my foot, turned on my heel and walked away. "I'm taking this!" I held up the book and hollered at the librarian, and walked out the door, leaving her standing there with that stupid startled expression.

Come to think of it, I was wishing I was with Fang. I don't know why Max can't do her own dirty work to make Nudge's life as the leader miserable so that I could be with Fang. I mean, it's not like I want to make out with him ever second, but I did miss him when he wasn't around. He was the one person that I really talked to.

I walked into the pool area and sat down in a lounge chair. I opened the book up to the first page, anxious to just learn the ABC's and start reading. "A," I said, tracing the A with my finger. "Aaaaaaayyy," I pronounced clearly. I re-traced it a few times to make sure I had it, and moved on to page 2. "B," I said, tracing the B. It looked kind of like a snowman, if you looked real hard. Or stairs. "Beeeeeee," I pronounced.

Don't you love it right before something happens, when it's so peaceful, and you expect nothing else than to just be alone for a few more seconds of uninterrupted peace and silence, when something distracts you and hits you like a train, ending that blissful moment of quiet?

"Airi, Airi, Airi, Airi, AIRI! Guess what?" Fang practically leapt on me, then stopped right before barreling into me. He eyed the book I was reading curiously. "Having fun?"

"I can't read, dummy. I was stuck in the School for years, remember? Anyway, what?"

"I have put my plan in motion," he announced. "I called the CSM, and they would be delighted if, to show young children what you go through, let Nudge spend a week in the desert with only ratty jean shorts and an ugly T-shirt, and no food, and make a video of it."

"Um, that's great, Fang. It's Nudge's biggest nightmare. But what if she doesn't want to?"

"She has to! Because if she doesn't, they'll stop funding for us to live here, and that means no more preppy clothes and free pool for Nudge. She'll have to. They demanded that the leader has to do it. And Max isn't the leader."

"Max will kill you if Nudge forfeits the leader position and then she has to spend a week in the desert without food."

"Nudge won't forfeit because Angel would sooner die than let Max win. So Nudge'll be in the desert, really regretting her decision, and BAM! Instant Nudge on our side. Besides, Max is Dr. M's daughter. If anything happens, Max's mom can fix it for her."

"So next, we'll get Gazzy on our side?"

"Not so fast. We might have to work harder on Nudge and Angel. We'll do that in the next few days. In the meantime, we have to work on making their lives miserable."

"I like the way you think," I smiled.

"I know," he said, and then leaned in to kiss me as I tossed the ABC book over my shoulder.

**Max POV**

I was really happy that the others had agreed to help me. It felt really good to have the support of Iggy, Fang and Airi, even if Fang and Iggy were the two biggest idiots the world would ever know. Airi, at least, had acted so kind to me when I had been such a jerk with her. I didn't have a very good friendship or relationship with her. Maybe I should fix that.

I was amazed by how much time Fang and Airi were spending together. Whenever they weren't in the group with us, they were always on their own together. I didn't know what they talked about; it wasn't like Fang talked that much to anyone, as long as I had known him. Maybe he actually was more open with her. I felt a touch of ugly resentment there.

Whatever. I should be happy with them being together, and I should be happy with Iggy. All the time I was with Fang, it had never felt as right as it had with Iggy. It was probably for the best. Airi and Fang were more open with each other, and Iggy and I were certainly open with each other. Plus, we had more of a history, so we didn't need to know more about each other like Airi and Fang did.

Iggy snapped his fingers in front of my face –or relatively close to it- and I was brought back to the real world, the world where we were currently eating some kind of soup in the cafeteria. "Hey," he said, slinging one arm around my shoulder. "You know it's gonna be okay. You got that text from Fang that said he took care of it. Now all we have to do is wait for Nudge to explode on us."

Right on cue, Nudge ran in. "What the hell is this?" she flashed Fang's text to her in front of our faces. Iggy, of course, was clueless, and just shrugged and kept eating. "I have to go in the desert for a week or I lose all of this? Is this some sick way of getting back at me? Well, it's not working! I'll do it! I'll go! When does it start?" determination flashed in her eyes, which only distressed me further.

"Tonight at eight o'clock," Iggy answered with his mouth full. "Jean shorts, not the cute ones, and a T-shirt. No food, no water. You find it all on your own, or go without. Nothing but the clothes on your back. No phone, no iPod, no snacks, no bracelets, only a watch to let you know when you can come home. If you come early, CSM takes you outta here."

She slammed a fist down on the table. "You don't think that I can take it, but I'm not gonna crack. I'm not gonna let you win. You guys are gonna pay for not taking care of us, and only caring about yourselves. You'll see!" she hissed, and then ran off. A few minutes later, we saw her take off into the sky.

"Is she gone?" asked Iggy.

"Yeah," I breathed out. "God, Iggy, I'm such an idiot. Angel knows me. She picked Nudge because Nudge hates me for stealing you away from her, or so she thinks. You know she always had that crush on you, and now that we're together, she wants to make my life miserable by flaunting the leadership in front of my face, and I can't take not being her leader, that little shit," I cursed.

"But…if it means that I have to give you up, I'll never be the leader again. I can't take it, Iggy. I want to be with you, but I want things to stay the same between the flock and I. I want to take care of them, but the truth is they're not the most important thing in the world to me anymore. You are."

"I know." He squeezed my shoulder tightly. "It's okay, Max. You know she won't win. You're stronger than her, and five times as evil. But that's what I love about you." He smiled. "Look, I don't know how our story's gonna end, I don't know where we'll be in even a month. I just know that it's all gonna work out somehow."

"How?" I asked in despair.

"Because," he breathed, and lifted my chin up, then leaned down to kiss me.

**Airi POV**

Fang had made it clear after he kissed me that it was my job to trick Gazzy into our side. I had to lie to him to get him to join Fang, Max and Iggy. Dirty bastard; just kissing me to get what he wanted. I ought to kill him, but I love him too damn much. So, because I loved him so much, I was walking down the hall to the game room, where Gazzy would probably be drowning his stresses in soda and Pac Man.

The plan was to lie to him, to get him to believe that Angel was evil and that Max and Fang and Iggy and I had it right; that he should betray his sister and join us, leaving her and Nudge alone in the dirt. I knew it would be something that would be hard to do.

"Gazzy?" I poked my head through the doorway, and there he was, only he was playing pinball instead of Pac Man. I walked up behind him and waited patiently until he finished his game. He lost quickly; he really sucked at pinball, I figured that out. "Gazzy, I need to talk to you about something. It's about this whole mess with Max and Angel."

"What about it?" he turned angrily. "I wanted you to be my friend, Airi. I wanted you to be my friend and I wanted Iggy to be my friend, and you both just started ignoring me once you got Fang and Max. Why? I never did anything wrong. I was always nice to you." He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.

I pulled him into a hug and closed my eyes. "Gazzy, I know you don't believe me, but I had a lot of fun with you and the water balloons. I wanted you to be my friend, too. Give it time, it's only been a few days and Max and Fang are still new to me and Iggy. Once it settles down some, there'll be time for you both. I'll have you for a best friend and Fang for a boyfriend, okay?"

"So you're not gonna ignore me?" he sniffed, and looked up at me hopefully. "'Cause I had fun with you too, Airi. I just want you and Iggy to both be my friends. I'm so tired of the way Angel's acting. I think she's too power-hungry, but if you guys could spend a little more time with us, that would help."

I breathed out a little. I didn't have to lie to him after all. "Gazzy, we need you on our side if we're gonna stop this. Max is really worrying about this. I guess she's just edgy when she's not the leader, and that's totally normal. I think Angel should be a little more grateful to Max, because Angel hasn't really done anything, it sounds like." I stopped. "But, I'm gonna quit bad-mouthing your sister."

"It's okay, I'll go with you guys," Gazzy said. "Maybe that'll make Angel and Nudge lose some confidence. By the way, did Nudge already leave on that trip of hers?"

"I think so," I answered. "Come on, Gazzy, I think they have ice cream in the cafeteria. Wait, do you guys like ice cream?"

"Hell, yeah," Gazzy answered, "We just hide it better."

**Max POV**

It wasn't long until Airi walked Gazzy in, who declared with a smile, "Hey, Max, don't shoot me. I decided to be on your side now. Angel's…"

"Crazy?"

"Psychotic?"

"The devil?"

"All worthy answers," Gazzy said. "I'm going to go with crazy." I pumped my fist in the air.

Airi walked over to the cafeteria window, and then brought us all a bowl of ice cream. "I thought we could all use some cheering up," she said, "and ice cream's been known to heal the soul. Well, not really. But in my book, I is for ice cream, and it looked really good."

"Heh, sorry about what I said about your book in the library," Gazzy grimaced. "But seriously, you can't read? I had to learn to read. Mostly signs that say 'danger zone' or 'toxic waste'."

The laughter died on our lips as Angel appeared in front of us, almost out of nowhere, but then I saw the open door. Oh. "What do you think you're doing, turning my own brother against me, you losers? We're a team, we stick together, and we don't need you!"

"He's as much our brother as he is yours," Iggy growled, "And you're insane, Angel. Your stupid plans for world domination are over. You wouldn't dare go as low as to control Gazzy's mind to get what you want. Not if you don't want to be put in an insane asylum."

I'd like to point out just how scary Angel is. No one can control her, because she'll just control their minds, no matter how many of them there are. She's gotten good over the years. Even if we tried, we couldn't stop her. What had kept her from taking over the world this far? I started to get terrified. "You stop it right now, Angel," I said, my voice steel. "You wouldn't dare. This just isn't right, and it's not fair."

"I don't play fair, and by taking my brother from me, you've made it clear that you don't play fair either," she snarled. "So, the last few seconds were the last you'll ever have of your own free will. You've gone too far, Max. You weren't there when I needed you." Tears streamed down her face, full of rage. "You weren't there for me when I needed you to just take care of me. And now you're about to pay."

The last thing I remember was Airi crashing out of the window before my mind went completely blank.

**Airi POV**

I had jumped out the window a split second before Angel captured the minds of Fang, Max, Gazzy and Iggy. I had to save myself, for their sake. I would get Angel, if it was the last thing I ever did.

"You'll never see your free will again, Max. I'll get Airi, too, don't you worry," murmured Angel, commanding them to get up. They did, and slumped their way out of the room. Fang, again, was the only one who struggled, and then finally succumbed to Angel's will. I didn't see them again.

God, let them be alright. Let me bring down this psychopath.

Let Fang have the strength to overcome her.

**Like I said, don't think too badly of Angel. Still, I won't let her win! Until the next chapter, guys! ^_^ Reviewwww~!**

**~Rachel**


	7. Maniac

**A/N - Omigod I've gotten so lazy with the uploading. I'll pick it up again, I promise, but for now, here's another chapter of this story. ^^ **

**I'm Here for You**

**Chapter 7**

**Airi POV**

The night wind swept past me, sending clouds of sand billowing around me for the fifth time in fifteen minutes. My light hair had already been covered with it, and it was in all of my clothes. My body ached for a shower and a bed compared to the stiff sand that I was lying on, but I knew that if I got back, I would be captured by Angel, and the flock's fates were in my hands.

I rolled over and folded my arms behind my head in a makeshift pillow, staring ahead restlessly. Miles away, in the middle of this desert, the flock was still in that prison, which would have been just a town without Angel in it. I remembered that somewhere, Nudge was in this desert, too. I wondered how she was doing, and practically wished she would be there, something to talk to.

I had to think of something, anything, to make Angel release Fang, Iggy, Gazzy and Max. They were probably walking around like total zombies now, always in Angel's evil eye. I wondered if it had always been like this between them, or if Angel was once a sweet little girl. With her rage and animosity toward Max, I couldn't see how it could be any other way than it already was.

Fang was in there. That was the big thing for me. I missed him so much that it hurt, and now that he'd been captured, I had no one to confide in, and I felt lost. For the first time since I had escaped the School, I felt more alone than ever. Just when things were supposed to settle down, she had to ruin it. I turned around and punched the sand in a fit of rage, sending it up into my eyes.

Temporarily blinded, tears poured out of my eyes, remembering Iggy. I had always missed him when I was at the School. He was my only friend in the world for years, and I had thought he would never come back. He wouldn't have, were it not for the Erasers that had captured them. Maybe I should be grateful to them now.

My eyes widened as my scream was stifled by a hand over my mouth. I clawed at it and tried to pry it away, but it stayed. "Don't move!" Nudge hissed. "Angel can hear anything."

I yanked myself away, face to face with her. "What the hell are you doing?" I almost shrieked, glaring at her. "We got rid of you! You should be way out there struggling because of CSM!"

"First, thanks for that," she seethed, "and second, Angel's overpowered the flock. I can come back when I want. But that's not why I'm here. I'm here because I'm not putting up with this shit from anyone. Angel's psychotic, okay? I can't believe she tried to control your mind, too. As much as I wanna get back at Max for stealing Iggy…I have to do this, or I'll never live with myself. I just want him to be happy."

"Thanks," I said quietly. "I just don't get why it matters to you so much that they don't date. That I don't date Fang. Are you really that dependent on them? Let them alone, for God's sake. Take a little responsibility upon yourself. I'm in love with Fang, and Max is in love with Iggy, whether you like it or not."

"I just want it to go back to the way it was in our old house with Jeb, where Max and Fang were just brother and sister and they took care of us. Now they just expect our family to be split in half while they go off and make their own flock. I want us to feel like a family, not like we're not together anymore. If they can't do that, I'll kick their butts from here to next week, and yours with it."

"I didn't know you felt that way."

"I didn't know that you loved him either."

I was silent for a moment. "You really love Iggy, don't you?"

"I've loved Iggy since forever," she answered in a small voice. "It's not just a kid's crush. When Max and Fang paired up, it only seemed natural that since we were the next oldest that we should be together, too. He was always the one, other than Fang, who's practically my brother, that I always really got along with. And now, when Max has never liked him before, or so I thought, she's all over him. I don't mean to make Max the bad guy; Iggy's a great guy, but I just love him too." Soft tears fell onto the sand and dissolved forever.

"I know you'll always be on Max's side…she practically saved you. You owe it all to her, and I hated you for stealing Iggy from me at first. Now, I'm turned against Max, who's practically like my best friend," she sobbed. "Just…see it from my side, okay? Everyone thinks I'm a little kid. I'm just as mature as the lot of them, maybe even more."

"Then why are you giving it up for Max?" I said evenly.

She wiped a few tears from her face and then looked up at me. "Because I have to. Because it's the right thing, and they'll only all hate me. I don't want enemies. I want Iggy to love me. But I guess that's just a dream." She gave a shaky laugh. "I'll help you put Angel under control. It'll be hard. She doesn't wanna just let this go."

"I know," I sighed. "Nudge…when you were in the room with the table with us…Angel tried to control Fang's mind when she controlled mine, but he resisted. Maybe he'll try to fight it. Maybe he can get away."

"I doubt it," she said bluntly, and curled further into the side of the sand dunes.

**Max POV**

I walked emptily through the halls for the rest of the day. I could see everything, but it seemed like it was from another world. I felt nothing except for in the very back of my mind, and it was faint, like something was screaming at me to move or escape, but I didn't want to, or I didn't have the will to. My mind was clouded and I couldn't remember anything except what SHE wanted me to remember.

All I knew was that SHE wanted me to do what SHE wanted me to, and I was supposed to do what SHE said I was supposed to do. If SHE said I had to do it, I would do it. I saw people I felt like I had seen before, a boy with jet-black hair, a tall boy with piercing blue eyes, a small blonde-haired angel boy, but I felt no connection to them. I wandered emptily, and so did they, because we were pawns on HER chess board.

I ignored the growing hunger pains in my stomach because SHE wanted me to, and HER control was all that mattered. Occasionally, I would be tossed a piece of bread or a bowl of something or other, and would be told to eat it at HER command. I felt empty and alone but somewhat blissful as I became like a shadow. I spoke to some, and maintained my 'personality' without having it inside of me, because SHE had told me to act like my normal self so that no one would suspect anything.

SHE insisted that even in my thoughts, HER name would be capitalized and respected.

SHE had ordered me to empty my mind.

SHE was the menace in my life, but I was quietly unaware.

ANGEL, the menace.

**Airi POV**

I woke up in the morning, and despite it being only about seven in the morning, the sand under me was scorching. I yelped and jumped up, sighing with relief as my shoes cushioned my feet from the scorching desert. I crawled a while to find that our sand dune had disappeared and new ones had popped up. I scurried under the side of another, glad for the shade it provided.

Nudge blinked sleepily and nearly screamed as I had, then noticed me and crawled over blindly. The sun would soon burn me, I was much too pale. We were hungry and without water, and it was only just the morning. What would we do when the sun was straight above our heads and we couldn't go back to the city without getting our minds taken over by Angel?

"Nudge," I rasped, my mouth dry and thirsty, "Get out of here. You can pretend to Angel that you still follow her. At least you'll still have water."

"She'll read my mind," she managed to get out, her mouth just as dry. "It'll never work. She'll see me coming, and I won't even be able to save the flock. We need to put the flock in an instance where they're far enough away that Angel can't control their minds. She'll lose her grip on them."

"How far away?" I asked quietly.

"Longer than the length of the entire glass city," she whispered. "And we don't have much time if we want to do this before we die of thirst. As in, today for me. I've been out of water for a while. I forgot to take water with me when I stomped away in anger yesterday, and I was in this heat for so long." I nodded with understanding. If we didn't do something quick, it was bye-bye Nudge, to put it lightly.

"Oh, and can I ask you something?" she asked. I nodded slightly. "Well," she began, "I saw you with that ABC book from the library, and I saw you sounding out words. How'd you do it if you can't read?"

"Oh, well, there was a small speaker in the side of the book that taught you how to pronounce it. I was just mimicking the sounds," I said sheepishly. "I guess I wanted to be smarter or something." The smile faded from my face, and I stared emptily away.

"I just can't believe Angel's doing this," I sighed. "I mean, Gazzy's her own brother? How could she do that to him?"

"It doesn't matter!" Nudge exclaimed. "Angel's been turned evil by her sadness on Max's account! We have to fix it! We need to get the others away, sneak up and kidnap them, and fly as far away from Angel as we are now, so that she can't control our minds." She coughed a little. "Airi, we really don't have long. I'll die if I go much longer. I'm already going weak. We need to do this while I still have some strength left!"

"I know what you mean," I sighed. "And it's not gonna do us any good sitting here, but it's also not gonna do us much good to go barging in there. We'll get our minds controlled. Now, here's what we're gonna do. When we get within sight of the building, we're gonna basically make ourselves invisible by flying too high for anyone to see. The whole building is glass, so it'll be difficult."

I went on. "Then we'll drop, so quickly that they can't see us. One of us will simply have to put ourselves in danger to distract and possibly fight with Angel while the other grabs the others. I think the one to distract her should be me, because she doesn't know you've betrayed her yet. You're safe. Get the others and get out. Fly to a safe place. Grab a few water bottles while we're there."

"It doesn't seem very well rehearsed," Nudge muttered.

"We just don't have time anymore," I answered steadily.

**Max POV**

"Sit, Max," SHE said as I walked into the room, and I fell with expert grace into the chair behind me. The dark haired, fair-haired and strawberry blonde boys that I didn't remember, but felt like I should know, sat in chairs beside me as SHE looked at us from across the table. "So here's the deal," SHE began.

"Your friend, though you don't remember her for a reason, just like you don't remember each other," SHE chuckled, "is quite possibly going to be coming to 'rescue' you. Nudge, well, she might even switch over to Airi's side. Though you haven't known her for very long, she seems to have developed an attachment to you, and considers you her family."

SHE sat straight up and planted HER tiny fist straight down on the table. I noticed that the other boys had blank stairs. Vaguely, I remembered thinking that they looked silly, like zombies. I could never look like that. "So let me make myself clear," SHE snarled. "If and when they come, you are not to have any socialization with them. I have prohibited you from all of that. If they try to take you, fight them. Fight them harshly, as if it was their death or yours. That is all." SHE looked painfully away and winced, then waved a hand to signal us away.

The last thing I saw through the doors as I looked back over my head was HER sobbing form.

**Airi POV**

After soaring into the air and getting a brief look at just where the city was, we disappeared into the clouds altogether, and used our built in sense of where and when to navigate to where we were directly above the facility. The pit of my stomach seemed empty, and I was quivering from anxiousness. Angel had the power to take Fang and Iggy away from me. Not to mention Max, my sister, and Gazzy, my friend.

Nudge seemed to be thinking along the same line as me, other than her aching throat and throbbing head. It was becoming hard for her to focus, I know, and I saw her constantly putting her fingers into her mouth to produce some saliva. It wasn't gross anymore when you were close to dying of thirst.

"Nudge, you're not strong enough to handle Angel like this," I explained. "You'll give in too easily. I need you to find the flock, Max, Fang, Iggy and Gazzy. I need you to get them save, and if I get captured, so be it. It would sooner be me than my sister, my boyfriend, my brother and my best friend any day of the week." I trailed off and my mind wandered endlessly of them.

"We're here," Nudge snapped me out of it. "The city's just below us. Angel's in there, but she can't see us because we're masked by clouds, like you said. In a few seconds, we drop. I need you to pick Angel out and go after her. You do whatever it takes, Airi, do whatever it takes to get them back and outsmart Angel." I nodded.

"And you need to find the others. Think of Iggy, Nudge, please. You know I'm neutral on the subject of you and Max, but please remember that they're your family, and you love them more than anything. Protect them, Nudge." I smiled and held out my hand, and she took it. "If Angel goes ballistic and kills me, it was good to know ya," I grinned.

She gave me one nod and I pulled my wings in, freefalling. I spotted Angel on my way, in the room with the round table, Fang, Gazzy, Max and Iggy. A fierce look was on her face, and she was staring at them so intently that she didn't look up, and for this I was glad. I saw her fist slam on the table, and I saw her glare at them viciously, then wave them away. I almost stopped when I saw her tears. Almost.

I dropped weightlessly on the roof and stood above her for a few minutes. In an instant I'd removed the glass to the skylight and was staring down at her sobbing form. She was still oblivious of me being where I was, but when I jumped down, she stiffened without looking behind her. "I knew you'd be here," she said at last. "You just can't resist coming to their rescue, can you, Airi?" I knew it was a rhetorical question.

"Angel," I glared down at the back of her head. "You can't keep doing this. You can't control people, and you can't change the fact that I love Fang and Max loves Iggy. We're putting our love before anything else."

"That's the point!" she whirled on me. "Where were your love-y asses when we needed you to take care of us? I still need Max and Fang to take care of me! And I thought it was finally going to be better now that Max split up with Fang, all because of you! You were my hero! But once again, you've made it clear that we're not needed and we're unwanted."

She bit her lip. "Do you think I like this? It's not fun for me to control you! I don't have a family any more, either way! But this way, I don't have to watch helplessly while you four desert us! Gazzy's on your side now, because you're his friend! You've stolen everything from me!" She sank to her knees. "No. Now, you're going to pay, Airika."

When she looked up at me, they were the eyes of a demon.

**Max POV**

We had been sent out, those three boys and me. Going as SHE had instructed us to go, into the kitchen for a few scraps of food, we joined one another at a long table, and waited for ANGEL to come in and prepare what food we were given. I looked into the soulless eyes of the others, and felt sorry for them, not knowing that I looked just the same, the same dead, blank stare.

I was suddenly thrown back against the opposite wall. A stinging pain filled my ears, and my head felt like it was going to explode. I was pinned to the wall by a small girl with frizzy hair and caramel colored skin. I knew her. This was Nudge, the one that SHE had warned me about. My eyes locked on hers, and with inhuman strength, I threw her off of me.

She pulled a bottle of water out of her shirt and gulped it down, catching her breath. Slowly, she stood up and grabbed a frying pan. Without warning, she leapt forward and struck me with it. I went down, pretending to be unconscious. She smiled to herself.

As she turned her back, I jerked my leg out and tripped her. She fell on her hands and knees. In a minute the other boys were joining me, and we had cornered her. She screamed as we descended.

**Airi POV**

"I never meant to hurt you!" I cried as I backed up, alarmed. This was it, before we even had a chance to start it, she was going to control my mind. Nudge would be helpless, and in a matter of minutes, we'd all submit to Angel's will. I shivered.

"Save it!" she hissed. "You never cared about me! I was the one that helped you earlier, and liked you! Why couldn't either of you give a shit about me, Nudge and Gazzy? We need you to be there for us, have fun with us, and do everything with us like you used to! Do you think we have parents?" she glared up at me. "Airi, all we had is you. And you blew it."

Without warning, she lunged at me. I jumped back just in time for her to miss me and hit her head on the wall behind me. Swearing, she picked herself up, but I had run behind the table. "I can control you anywhere, anytime," she hissed.

My blood ran cold. The time for playing was over. "But I won't," Angel said nonchalantly. "Because that wouldn't be nearly painful enough for you." She snapped her fingers, and I didn't get the threat until he walked into the room.

**Max POV**

We all heard the snap in our brains, and it came from HER. I glanced over at the dark-haired boy, and he nodded at me. Quickly, walked mindlessly from the room, and it was just me, Nudge and the two boys. We fell on her, clawing and kicking and hitting. She kicked the younger boy squarely in the face, and he fell back, his nose bent at an odd angle. The taller boy and I couldn't find the will to help him; we just kept attacking her.

She screamed and seized a handful of my hair. I groaned and tried to slap her, but she bit my hand. Quickly, she flipped and kicked the taller boy in the crotch, and he doubled over. Pain was the only thing we felt, no emotion, no nothing. I was not so weak. I wrapped my hands around her tiny neck, squeezing ever so slowly. Her breath got shallower and shallower, and I knew it wouldn't be soon before she gave in completely. I smiled to myself.

**Airi POV**

I glanced through the door. Moments after she snapped her fingers, Fang materialized in front of me. My first thought, considering his blank eyes, his lifeless posture and his wrinkled clothing, was that this wasn't Fang, just someone who looked like him that was trying to scare the life out of me.

Words found my mouth as I gasped for them. "Angel…no," I begged. "No, no, no, Angeeeeel!" I screamed as he pushed me down. Helpless on the floor, I scrambled to my feet. Fang was standing above me, only to kick my feet under again as I fell against the wall with a sickening pain.

"Don't do this!" I screamed at her, but she remained motionless as Fang took another swing at me, and thank God he missed. I screamed as I lashed out at him blindly, slapping him in the face and sending him backward into the table, which was crushed under the sudden weight.

"Stop, Fang," Angel ordered, and he became totally and completely limp. She glared at me. "So, Airi, have you had enough? You gonna join me the easy way or the hard way?"

"Go to hell!" I screamed at her. "Okay, fine," she sighed, and looked as if she was concentrating at me. Dumbfounded, she tried again, but I remained perfectly in my own control. Again and again she tried to control my mind, and she never could. It was like I was immune to it for a while.

"Let go, Angel," I said softly as I walked over to her. She slumped to the floor. "Let go of them. I'm here, Angel," and she let go as she sobbed into my shoulder. I put my arms around her and comforted her as she let go.

**Max POV**

I was squeezing the life out of Nudge on the floor. She writhed in pain, and struggled to get free as the oxygen drained from her body and she choked to breathe. She tried to push me off, but I was stronger than her, and I only squeezed harder, at ANGEL'S command.

"Max, please," she gasped, and a tear trickled down my cheek, but I had no idea what for. My brain came back for one moment only, and in that one moment, I could have told her that Iggy would always be mine, or that she had been such a brat, but I didn't. Instead, I whispered, "I love you, and I'm so sorry."

I gasped aloud and fell off of Nudge as my brain was swept entirely of ANGEL, and her name returned again to Angel. I sat, breathing heavily, in the middle of the floor with Iggy moaning at my feet and Gazzy thrown against the wall, and I remembered them. The emptiness and hostility was gone from their eyes, and all I could think of was peace.

I held Nudge close to me and cried with her, to think of how close we had come, how close I had come to killing my sister. Gazzy claimed that he had something in his eye, because 'men' didn't cry, and Iggy made some perverted sex joke to ease the mood, but I knew that it was as good as a crying fit for them.

I stroked Nudge's hair. "Thank God you're safe," I breathed.

**Airi POV**

Fang pulled a huge piece of the table right out of his back and walked painfully over to sit down next to Angel and me. "Dang, you can slap," he remarked, easing his way down to sit next to us.

I held Angel close as she sobbed into my shirt, and Fang enveloped us all together in a hug. "I'm so sorry, Angel," he murmured. He glanced up at me and leaned into my ear. "How did you stop her?"

I thought back on it, dumbfounded. "I'll let you know when I figure it out," I breathed.

**Lots of POV switching this chapter, huh? It was supposed to be longer, but I ran out of time, so it's a little shorter. I'll make it up to you! **

**As always, review!!**

**~Rachel**


	8. Malice

**A/N- If there's been a lack of updates, I'm really sorry for the wait, but I don't think it's been that long. More draaaaama this chapter, because I just love all the torture. I hope more people start reading the story, it's going to be much longer! **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 8**

**Max POV **

I sat on the floor next to Iggy in the incredibly large game room. The only light on was the one right above the pool table in the center, the lights in the surrounding rooms were out, and we had been doing…certain things for the past few minutes. Okay, so maybe I wasn't on the floor next to him. Maybe I was kinda sorta almost on his lap, but this is why we took Angel's advice and got a room. I could practically feel Iggy's frustration with me and my wandering mind.

I had been positive that I loved Iggy more than anything else in the world a few days ago. Now I had started having doubts. I loved him, and I still felt the same way, but I felt that something was missing, I just didn't know what. Now, Iggy's lips pressed to mine tenderly, I wondered if this was where I wanted to be. I squelched all thoughts of Fang and how it was wrong to feel this way down the back of my mind.

Every time I glanced at Fang, all I could see were those years that I had been in love with him, not thinking of Iggy. Every time he smiled at me, it still broke my heart, and every time I saw Iggy, I knew that I loved him more than ever. I was totally caught in the middle, my boyfriend, Iggy, and my unrequited love for Fang.

Airi had him now, and I was almost positive that I couldn't hurt her. She was so vulnerable, and, well, loveable. She had become my friend these days, the only one that was nearly my age. She was my only friend who wasn't one of the guys. I couldn't hurt her by talking to Fang. These feelings would pass, of that I was sure.

I couldn't seem to focus on the present, as much as I would have loved to at that moment. After you have your mind controlled every second, and can't even remember the one you love, you start to be really grateful for every second that you have free will. It was because of Airi that we were back to normal now. I didn't want to trust her, and I was still suspicious of her, but if this wasn't proof that we could trust her by all means, nothing was.

Nudge had helped, and come along, but it hadn't been Nudge who withstood Angel's rage and control and came to our rescue. It had been Nudge who had betrayed us, and gone with Angel, all because I had 'stolen' Iggy from her. I had started to doubt Angel and lean into Airi, who desperately wanted to be my sister and friend.

Airi had been polite, likeable –maybe too likeable- and friendly to all of us, as much as I hated to admit it. She had tried what seemed like desperately hard to fit in with us, as if we were her last chance for someone to love, and we probably were.

In contrast, Nudge had been nothing but a little bitch to me ever since I had fallen in love with Iggy. I understood where she was coming from, because I'd do anything for Iggy, and whoever stole him would face my wrath, certainly. But it was more than that. Lately she acted like she didn't even want to be in this family, and hated me most of all, resented me for being the leader just like I had thought Angel had. But it was because she really wanted to be the leader, not because she wanted Fang, Iggy, Airi and I to be her 'parents'.

"You're thinking too hard again, Max," Iggy joked against my lips. I pulled away abruptly.

"Sorry," I apologized. "I'm not really thinking straight. It just seems like ever since we picked Airi up with us, everything bad has to happen to us now, when we're just getting back together again. Some good things have happened too, like the fact that Airi's with us,"

"And that you have me," he interrupted brightly.

"Full of ourselves are we?" I asked, raising one eyebrow. "I'm worried about Nudge, and what's going on in her head now. Think about it. She has no friends, Iggy. Nudge and Gazzy are really getting too young for her, but she's not old enough for us. She's so in the middle, and now she hates me for taking you, as weird as it is for you."

"Well I _am _irresistible. I don't blame the lady," he grinned. I pointedly elbowed him.

"Focus, Iggy!" I hissed. "I'm wondering if this is the right decision. The only time that Nudge was ever really happy was if we were in a normal school or with people. She's a bit of a social butterfly, and now she has no friends or even anyone to talk to. What if staying here with just each other is a mess?"

"Okay, so I'll go get the mop," he rolled his eyes.

"And you know what's weirder?" I asked, completely ignoring him. "Why was Airi able to defeat Angel in the first place? Angel could have controlled her mind any time she wanted to, but she obviously didn't, because we're all fine now. What's going on with Airi that would let her go against Angel's will?"

"Well," he said, getting a bit more serious. "The first possibility is that Angel just didn't have the will power to fight her anymore, but that's unlikely, because she sent Fang after her to fight. The second and more likely possibility is that Airi's just naturally immune to Angel's control. She might not even know if she has powers."

My eyes lit up. "That's it, Iggy, that's it! That's the only thing that explains why she was able to do it! It's because Angel can't affect her! We…we…well crap, we gotta test this out!" I jumped to my feet, much to his despair.

"Can't we just sit here and continue, please?" he asked, annoyed. "I mean, it's fine if you hated it, but there are some of us who get creeped out when we're making out with a girl and she's thinking of your _sister,_" he pouted pointedly, but saw that he was losing the battle. I smiled and pulled him to his feet.

"We got plenty of time," I assured him. He winced at my grammar. I rolled my eyes at him. "Come on. I'll call a flock meeting." With all my will I called Angel in my mind and told her to round up the flock in the room with the round table. Tugging Iggy along with me, I slowly made my way through the endless glass hallways. I had gotten no response from Angel, but I was quite sure that she had heard.

My thoughts flew back to Fang as his face appeared in my mind, his face lean and unsmiling in a thoughtful way. His black eyes pierced mine, and my heart stopped, though only in my mind. On the outside, I showed nothing, just followed Iggy through the hallways. I felt the blush creep into my cheeks, not that Iggy could see it, as I remembered the cave where Fang and I had first kissed.

Guilt flooded through my senses and enveloped my body. I hadn't felt this yesterday. This morning I had woken up missing Fang with all my might. I always pictured myself with him, always when I pictured the possible idea of actually surviving into adulthood and getting married, it was with him. This was like losing a best friend, or who you envision yourself to be. It felt like losing a part of me.

The minute I said anything, I would be doomed. I knew I wasn't a good liar to my family, only to the worthless bastards that didn't mean anything to me. I desperately cared about Iggy, I would have sold my soul if it meant that he wouldn't be unhappy. But I also found myself caring about Fang.

My eyes widened. We were going to Angel, who could read minds. I knew she had agreed not to meddle in my personal life now, but the minute she read my mind, which for some reason wouldn't keep Fang out, she would know everything, and I had no idea if she would tell Iggy or not. And it would be pointless for him to know, because nothing would come out of it.

It wasn't something that I didn't want him to know out of cruelty. I just didn't think he needed to know. He would never trust me again, and it would be pointless because nothing was going to come of it, and I loved him too much. Nothing would come of my love for Fang, and it never would. He loved Airi now.

I was horrified at myself for thinking of cheating on Iggy. And horrified at myself for thinking of hurting Airi, who had never tried anything like that on me –well of course not, he was her brother, for heaven's sake-. As we walked down the hallway, hand and hand, I managed to crush any thoughts that I had been having. Fang was my brother now. I felt nothing for him, and that was the way it would stay.

If you haven't been thinking it already, you're probably thinking it now. I know that it wasn't normal for teenagers to fall in love, especially 14 almost 15 year olds like us. But you have to remember that we could live to be twenty, or we could live to be eighty. And as long as we didn't know, every moment counted. And we aged faster. As Angel had said, we could all be married now. We were really and truly in love.

I turned the corner and led Iggy into the room with the round table. Fang and Airi were in two chairs next to each other, their hands intertwined under the table and their eyes meeting every few seconds. Nudge winced as Iggy and I walked in, and I grasped his hand tightly. Gazzy and Nudge went unfazed, but I noticed that Angel couldn't tell what was going on in my head. I was reciting Chinese characters, some that I'd never seen before, in my head as this was going on. Angel gave me an irritated glance.

I sat down with Iggy's hand clenched tightly in mine, as if it were the only thing keeping me from thinking more Fang thoughts. "Um, ouch, Max," he gave me an amused look as he pried my hand from his and flexed it to make sure I hadn't broken anything.

I noticed that they had gotten a new table. After Fang practically breaking the other one in half, they would have had to, or we'd be sitting in chairs in a circle.

"So, um, why are we here?" Airi asked, straight and to the point as usual. She probably had the shortest attention span there. To prove my point, she immediately followed with, "Do you think that they have tater tots in the cafeteria?"

"We're here to talk to you, Airi," I answered. "Do you remember the…er…incident with Angel in this very room? And how you saved us?"

"Sure," Airi said. "I'm a regular hero." She grinned up at Fang, who rewarded her with a smile, to which I pointedly started reciting the Spanish alphabet.

"Anyway," Iggy continued, "Max thinks that the reason you were able to defeat Angel was because her mind controlling doesn't affect you. Now, we could be totally wrong. Angel's powers could have been off because she was so upset. So we're gonna have a little simulation here. Angel, Airi, step to the front of the room."

They both got out of their seats slowly and took their place to our right. We swiveled our chairs over to face them –well, I swiveled Iggy's, because he went the wrong way-, and Iggy directed Angel to try to make Airi do something.

"What? I don't want to use my powers that way," she said solemnly. I could tell that she was truly sorry for what she had done, and didn't want to relive any part of it. I didn't blame her.

"It's okay, Angel," I piped up. "Just try to make her walk across the room or even raise her hand. Whatever you feel comfortable with. We just want to see if it works."

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes in concentration. We all watched, eyes wide, as Airi did nothing. She just stood there and blinked at Angel. "Is it supposed to be working?" she asked.

"It doesn't work on her," Iggy marveled. "She's completely immune to it."

"Well, if I'm immune to Angel's powers, then why can she read my mind?"

I got an idea. "Follow me here, Airi. We're survivors, it's what we do. You had to survive all those years in the School, and we've been chased all this time by Erasers and people that want to get us. Each of us here has had to fight for our lives."

"Where are you going with this?" she asked.

"We have to survive, and our bodies know it. So I think there's something in our bodies that will keep fighting until the last instant, trying to keep us alive. We each have our defenses, like Fang's ability to turn invisible, for instance. The way your body works, whatever will put you in harm, your body instantly rejects it. When you knew that Angel could control your mind, you snapped and went into survival mode, and you did it just now.

Basically anything that threatens you or will threaten your way of life, you reject. You can't help it, it's a reflex, like swallowing or when someone hits your knee in the right spot and it jerks. I think you have a more acute sense of protection. I want to test something else. Fang, get up there."

He ran to the front. "What am I doing?" he asked.

"Turn invisible," I commanded, "and then sneak around the room. He did as he was told, and disappeared completely.

I looked at Airi. "Now think about something like that trying to hurt you. As a survival instinct, you and your powers will instantly reject it. Watch everywhere closely. Can you see him? Or can you see his shadow? Anything?" I watched as her eyes followed him.

"I can see his outline. Like, there's a thin line around where he moves. When I look especially hard, that is. If I wasn't looking for it I wouldn't see him."

"But that's good!" I exclaimed. "That confirms it!" My eyes flashed. Now something harder. I want to see what happens," I said excitedly, and stepped to the front of the room, too.

"What are you doing?" she asked, backing up slightly. I grinned and made two fists.

"I'm going to come at you, Airi, and you'll really be in danger. Let's give it a try."

"Are you insane?" she yelled as I lunged at her. She sidestepped, breathing heavily. I came at her again and she ducked, sending her into a wall. She ran to the other side of the table, but I was too fast for her, meeting her there and swinging at her. My hand barely made her face, and she fell to the ground.

Scrambling up, she tripped and fell again. "Max, no, don't hurt me," she cried out, and the flock was silent, and watching with wide eyes. I walked after her as she crawled away and under the table around to the other side.

"Max, stop it, you're scaring her," I heard Fang comment, but I ignored him and kept going. She quickly got to her feet. Soon I had her backed into a corner.

"Max, please, no!" she screamed as I punched, hard. But the punch never touched her. It was a good foot from her face when it stopped in midair. Where I was pressing down was a shimmering silver mist. I tried to penetrate it, but I couldn't. Her eyes were screwed shut and a hand was in front of her face. When she realized she wasn't being hit, one of her eyes opened in surprise.

She slowly opened the other and put her hands out. The shimmery missed opened wider, pushing me farther away as she flexed her hands. "It's like…it's like a force field!" she said as she found the right words. "I can keep people away from me…and not get hurt…this is amazing!"

She grinned harder. "What happens if I do this?" she asked as she turned one hand slightly, and the force field shimmered and bent to let me in, like a bubble. I saw what it was like from the inside looking out. The area inside it was a multitude of shimmery colors, every color you could ever see and then colors that I had no words for, colors that I had never seen before. "It's beautiful," she said, and stretched it to let the others in.

Angel grabbed Iggy's hand tightly, and smiled as she projected the picture of it into his head. The biggest smile I had ever seen lit up his face as he reached out to feel it. You could practically feel it shimmering on your skin. I looked at Fang, my face full of joy, and my smile faded into a thoughtful expression as our eyes met, and we both fell silent. Angel didn't notice, because she was too happy, and no one else was paying attention. My heart filled with hope. The hope that he still loved me.

Airi slowly dropped her hands, and the shimmer around us faded until there was none left. She still had that expression of joy on her face, and I felt instantly ashamed. I couldn't help myself. I loved Fang, and I loved Iggy, and I wanted Airi to be happy. But I wished so much for Fang to love me back that my head hurt. I was thankful that Angel was still caught up in her own joy, chattering away to Iggy about how amazing it felt and how lucky Airi was.

Gazzy and Nudge just blew it off, they were still young, and not as adult-like as Angel. "Wanna go swim?" he asked her, and she smiled and nodded. In a moment they were off.

"I'm hungry," Angel announced. "I hope they have applesauce in the kitchen." She followed them out.

"Hey, I want to go to the library to see if they have any English tapes that can help me read," Airi said in a low voice. "Between you guys and me and the wall, I have no schooling, and I really want to know, even as little as you guys know, no offense," she giggled. "Hey, Ig, you wanna come with me and see if they have any books so you can learn Braille? I'll even help you learn if you want," she offered.

"Hell, yes!" he pumped his fist in the air, and made puppy dog eyes in my general direction. "Max, can I please go?! You all can read and I can't! I barely know how to spell, and I have to imagine what the letters look like! Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure the letter B is a straight line."

Airi winced. "No, Iggy, you're totally right, it is a straight line," she agreed, trying to spare him some dignity. "Let's go to the library now, Iggy, heh, heh," she chuckled and dragged him out.

My eyes widened as I realized that we were the only two in the room and I scuttled out the door, down the hall and into the game room that I had been in only a half hour ago. Breathing heavily, I screamed at myself mentally. Why was I doing this? I couldn't be doing this, betraying Iggy so easily and making Airi's life miserable for her. It couldn't happen! I wouldn't allow it!

I leaned my head against the wall as tears poured down my face. I slumped down until I was in a fetal position on the floor, large sobs wracking my body. The last time I had cried like this, it was because I loved Iggy more than life, and was forced to give up the flock for him. This time, it was because I longed for Fang to come and make everything alright, to kiss him, to hug him, to never let him go. As long as Fang was there, it would always be alright.

Why did love have to hurt so much, and why was I so in love with them both? I wanted to die, or to go to sleep forever and not have to worry about any of this. It was all happening too fast.

As I looked across the room, I saw a cue being lifted off a pool table and into the air, and I watched the balls scatter and fall in their holes. I stopped crying and looked up, and I saw it, just hovering there.

"Max," I gasped as Fang became visible again and said my name. There were tear stains on my face, and I'm willing to bet that I looked terrible. "Max," he said again, and stepped forward, sweeping me into his arms.

I sobbed into his arms. I sobbed for what seemed like an eternity, and he just held me there, stroking my hair and thinking. What he was thinking about, I imagined, was along the lines of what I was thinking about. "Max, what are we going to do?"

I looked up at him. "I don't know, Fang. But this is wrong. I'm with him, and you're with her, and we just can't be together anymore. I'll…I'll try to forget you, I guess, and you can do the same for me, and it'll be as if you never existed to me, except for as my brother. I know it's too late for us, and I wish I'd never let you go. You don't know how hard this is for me, how much I wish I could be with you and I-oh!" I gasped as his lips came crashing down on mine.

He held me close to him with all his will and pulled me tighter to him every second. I knew I should run, and never speak of it again, but instead my arms went around his shoulders and pulled him closer. We leaned against the pool table for support, and one hand held my face firmly in place while the other trailed along my waist. His lips moved with mine for an eternity, brushing softly and tenderly against mine.

Something in me had snapped, and I knew it was the same with him. Our lips parted with a gasp and we angled our heads this way and that to get closer. My fingers tangled in his hand and his hand moved to the back of my neck to touch mine. I could hardly breathe anymore, but I kept kissing him, like I was dying of thirst and he was my water. I couldn't get enough of him and how familiar this was, how many thousands of times we'd done this, even though my brain screamed at me that it was wrong.

I was lost. I was drowning. Drowning in Fang's kiss.

**Airi POV **

We came back from the library laughing and happy, with Iggy's large Braille book clasped in his hands and a few ABC tapes in mine. I was leaning on him after some perverted sex joke of his –I swear, that boy can take a puppy and turn it into a sex joke-, and we were making our way to the game room for a couple of sodas and a few rounds of air hockey. "The others'll never miss us," he reassured me, still laughing.

As we approached, I could see that one light was on and there were people already in there. I didn't really mind, I would share with anyone, as long as they weren't at the air hockey table. When we entered the room, still laughing with me flexing a small force field bubble in my hand, I saw two shadows pressed up against the wall.

My heart stopped as I realized that the two shadows were Max and Fang. Kissing.

I couldn't help it. I screamed.

**Alrighty now. Cliffhanger much? Think. Think hard. Who is better for Fang, Max or Airi? And who is better for Max, Iggy or Fang? *passes out cupcakes to reviewers* ^_^**

**~Rachel**


	9. Misery

**A/N - Ehh, sorry for all the aaaaangst that has been happening recently in the story T_T Here comes more of it! xD There'll be some happy spots in the next few chapters, though, so don't let this slow you down...tell me what you think of this chapter, I don't know if it seems rushed. **

**Also, I happen to like my pairing, FangxAiri. Yes, there will be Fax. Yes, there will be Niggy. There will probably be GazzyxAiri. But it will most definetly not stay that way. xD **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 9**

**Max POV **

Fang was everywhere. The only thing I knew in the world was Fang, completely forgetting Iggy and Airi for the moment. I wasn't trying to be cruel, and my subconscious knew it was wrong, but I wanted one familiar thing in this unfamiliar glass world. I was screaming at myself to let go, to let him go, but I just couldn't do it. The next thing I knew, an earsplitting scream filled my ears, causing me to jump back from the familiarity of his embrace.

My eyes widened in sheer and unbridled terror as I saw the two people in the doorway. Airi's face was that of shock and surprise, not completely registering the fact that she had caught Fang and I almost-sort of-well…making out.

When I noticed that Iggy was the one next to her, I almost stopped breathing. I had never wanted to hurt him, never wanted him to find out about this. He would never trust me again, and it would all be over. I supposed Nudge could finally get what she wanted.

Iggy looked down at Airi with alarm as the tears pooled in her eyes and her brows furrowed. She was rooted to the spot, eyeing Fang and I angrily. I noticed that Fang and I had moved so that we were now around ten feet apart.

Guilt flooded through me, down to the pit of my stomach, and I almost started hyperventilating. I had never really thought of having a panic attack before, but the thought of losing Iggy was unbearable. The flock would break up.

Then I remembered something, right when Iggy started tugging on Airi's sleeve. He didn't know what the heck was going on. He hadn't seen Fang and I kissing, and he hadn't known what Airi's scream had been for. I was instantly bricked with another serving of guilt for thinking of lying to him.

Airi's mouth was opening and closing, trying to find words but never quite getting there. All the while, Iggy was oblivious to what was going on, and he was getting frustrated.

Neither one of us had the heart or the nerve to speak after that. Fang was silent, even for him. This was…extreme silence. And I was scared out of my wits, scared to think that I could be losing the best thing that ever happened to me.

I don't know how long we all stood there. It seemed like an eternity, but in reality it must have been only a few minutes.

_I've lost everything. _

Iggy was the one to break the silence. "Airi, could you please tell me what's going on? Did you just see a spider or something, because that scream was a little much, don't you think?" He was unaware of the tears streaming down his sister's face.

"Your girlfriend's a two-cent whore, Iggy," she whispered, but given his lack of the fifth sense, I knew he had to use what he had, and I knew that he heard every word. Outrage was written on his face, and he looked like he wanted to slap her. I felt a small glimmer of hope and then a flood of pain and regret.

"What the hell, Airi? We talking about the same Max?"

"The same Max," she choked out, "was just caught doing something I'm sure she didn't expect to be caught for in the least."

"Max isn't that kind of person!" Iggy's eyes widened. I snorted.

Fang's olive skin had gone pale. "Airi, let me explain…"

"Whoah, Fang's here, too?" Iggy asked, his voice becoming slightly suspicious. "What's going on?"

"Airi, it was just a reflex!" I cried. "Everything was so new and different here, and we just lost control with it!"

"You, you!" she stuttered. "What happens the next time you lose control, huh? What happens the next time you have a _reflex? _That's what's called _having control of your freaking actions. _Well, I'm done. I'm done dancing around you guys and your issues."

"Will someone tell me something?" Iggy shouted.

"They kissed, Iggy!" she yelled in his face. "Are you happy now? They still love each other. No, wait. Let me get this straight. It's just too _hard _being the leader and being in charge of _everything. _She can't _take it _anymore. So now she's stolen my boyfriend, because he can cure all of her problems. _Let's just forget the last few years I spent in that dog crate_!"

"Nothing was going to come of it! It was just a goodbye, something that would never happen again!" Fang shouted back. "You know I love you. I told you I loved you!"

I felt no pain when Fang said that, and I knew he was right. It had been a mistake, something that was never supposed to happen. Iggy's face was contorted in rage and pain.

"Do I?" shouted Airi. "I thought I did, and I thought you were telling the truth, too! But people can be wrong about that. I trusted you, and I put my life in the hands of a bottle-blonde slut and an emo playboy!"

Fang fell silent.

"Why?" Iggy said, looking at the both of us. "I have _nothing! _I'm blind, I have no parents, no family, hardly any friends, and you have the nerve to steal from _me_!" he growled at Fang. "I'll kill you!" And he lunged at Fang, but Airi flexed her hand and he was thrown back with a shimmer of light.

She caught him easily and stared at us. "I don't care. If you're pathetic enough to get together after everything Max and Iggy have been through, and after everything you've said to me, I don't need you. I don't need you as a sister," she jabbed her finger at me, "and I don't need you as a boyfriend."

But she did need us, and she did care. I could tell from the tears streaming down her face and her clenched fists. She needed Fang and me more than anyone would ever know, and it was torturing her inside.

Iggy turned to look at me. "I hate you," he choked out. "I hate you!" I felt like my world was crumbling apart, and I let out a small whimper.

"Iggy, please," I said, moving toward him.

Airi expanded the force field of energy with a rapid rush, knocking me backward and into the wall. I felt a searing pain in my head as I pried myself from the wall. I had caused quite the dent, and there was plaster and dried paint sticking to my back. I cried out as I felt another pain in my lower back and collapsed.

Airi's eyes were cold as she pressed the force field down harder on me, crushing me against the floor and suffocating me. I felt my lungs deflating and I couldn't take anymore. The floor was starting to crack and give into the weight. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth.

She was hardly Airi anymore. She was so hurt and confused that it was driving her past her morals and personality, into unfamiliar territory. She _wanted _to hurt me, _wanted _me to feel her pain. As I was crushed farther and farther into the floor, I felt terrible guilt, even as I was sure I was about to die.

And suddenly, it all let up, and I took in my first needy gulp of air. It filled my lungs and I rolled over, gasping as Airi ran from the room. Fang fell back against the wall in shock, blinking to make sure it was all real. When he saw me gasping for air on the ground, he knew that it was.

He ran after her.

**Airi POV **

I ran down the endless halls of the glass city, weaving through door after door and slamming the lights off as I ran. No one was going to follow me, of that I was sure. And if they tried, I wouldn't let them. Iggy alone with Max? I could deal. Just as long as I put as much distance between Fang and I as possible.

I should never have gotten between them. I had come at the worst possible time. I should have remembered. Even when I was a young child, a little six-year-old just starting to figure things out, they had demanded that my eyesight wasn't the best, and that it could be enhanced with the newest technology and surgery.

That was when they all entered my life forever, whether I knew it or not. I can't believe I hadn't seen it. The similarity between Iggy and I. True, I didn't own a mirror.

Back then, everyone had been kept in better cages –well, at least if you were a child-. The living conditions were bearable, and there was even better food, and a lollipop waiting if we got more shots than usual. I was able to take a shower once a week. My hair had been long, golden with strawberry tints, and shiny. I had been glowing.

Then I had been scared when they announced that it would begin the next day, and I awaited it patiently. In the early hours of the morning, I rubbed my eyes and swallowed a glass of milk during the march to the lab.

I was put under, and I don't remember much about that. But when I woke up in a haze, there was a smiling reddish-haired boy looking down on me. How could anyone have smiled at a time like that? His eyes were piercing and blue, like I had been told by the female whitecoats that I had, too.

I got to know him over the next few months. We were separated from the other children all the time, even though the operations were always a few months apart. He had been my only friend, Iggy, my only friend in the world. I never met the friends that he always spoke of.

_I came out of the exam room, licking noisily on the strawberry sucker that the nurse had given me. I always got them when I was good. I figured it was because I was the cutest one there. _

_Iggy was bouncing loudly on my bed when I came in the room. The blankets were strung between the two beds in a makeshift fort. It was so great, the sucker fell out of my mouth and clattered to the floor. "Iggster, you made a fort?" I asked curiously. _

_"Yup!" he bounced off and lifted one of the flaps of the blankets. "Get in! I set the lamp inside it so that we could see." Without hesitation, I followed him in. _

_Crawling inside, I waited patiently for him to get in, too. "You know, you owe me a new lollipop," I complained to him, wanting the old one back. _

"_So, what's up?" I asked. _

"_Oh, you know," he said. "I went to visit my friend, Fang, you know, the dark one. And he and his girlfriend, Max –well, they like each other anyway, even if they don't wanna admit it- were talking, so I had to leave." He gave an indignant huff. _

"_What's up with those two, anyway?" I wondered aloud. _

"_Easy," he answered. "She's his fee-on-say." _

"_What's a fee-on-say?" I asked. _

"_It's when two people wanna get married, but they have to wait a while," he admitted. "They usually give rings, but Fang didn't have one." _

"_Ow!" I screeched suddenly as I bumped into the table, cutting my small palm as I held myself up for support. Blood flowed easily from the wound._

_Iggy winced. "Golly, I'm really, really sorry, Airi. Here, I know." And to my horror, he grabbed a pencil from the nearby dresser and slammed it firmly into his arm. _

_He screamed as pain shot up his arm, and the pencil fell from his hand. "God, you're such an idiot, loser!" I cried, grabbing a Kleenex to wipe up the flowing blood. _

_"No!" he gritted his teeth. "Here." And he slowly rubbed his arm against my palm, causing the blood to mingle and smear. "Now we're blood brothers for life," he said with some satisfaction, still holding his wounded arm. _

_"But I'm a girl!" I protested. _

_"Well, then…" he searched his brain. "Then…we'll be like Max and Fang, only we won't love each other. I'll let you be my fee-on-say." _

_"Oh," I brightened. "Well, okay." _

I smiled a bit, thinking back on the memory. Even then, Max and Fang had been in love, and there wasn't anything I could do to change it or stop it now. My face fell as I slid down the wall to the room I was in. The room was empty apart from a few boxes, and I was hiding behind those.

I put one hand over my mouth and cried, huge body-wracking sobs. I leaned on the boxes and tilted my head back and screamed into my hand, saying goodbye to the last thing I had left of him, the memories. I slumped down until the sobs came out choked and I had been reduced to sniffling.

The new family I had found, just when I thought I was starting out right, it had all changed.

I heard rushed footsteps coming down the hallway, and I immediately stopped crying and held my breath as I peeked over the boxes, but just barely. A flash of olive skin and black clothing ran past the door. "Airi!" Fang shouted. "God, Airi, where are you?"

I sank to the ground once again and cried.

**Max POV**

Iggy heard as Fang flung himself at the door and brushed past him. My eyes widened more, if at all possible, as I realized that it was just us, all alone. Slowly, without the smallest noise, I rose to a squatting position and half-crawled across the room. "Max?" Iggy said uneasily, and I felt ashamed.

Nevertheless, I continued crawling. I crawled underneath pool tables and through mazes of Pac-man machines, carefully avoiding him. Then I made the mistake. Halfway to the door, I made the mistake of thinking it was okay to stand. When I did, he heard it, and he whirled around to face me.

"Max?" he asked again. I didn't answer. In two angry strides he'd closed the distance between us. His arm snapped out to touch my arm before I could flinch away, and I recoiled. "So it is you," he said.

"Iggy," I gasped, searching for the right words, and finding none. _It's not what you think_, _I never meant to hurt you_, and _I never loved him _all seemed silly and insignificant now that this was real life, and not another soap opera.

"What?" he accused bitingly. "I'm _**blind, **_Max. My life is _built _on trust. If you and that asshole are going to tear that away, what do I freaking have left? Did you two just decide to spontaneously tear the flock in two? Was I never _good enough, _Max?"

"No!" I yelled. "I-It was an impulse, a mistake! It would never happen again, and nothing was going to happen! We were saying goodbye to our old lives, Iggy, and that's it! I don't lie!"

"Then what were you planning to do, tell me about it?" he asked sarcastically. "Oh, I can see it now. Sorry, Iggy, but I kind of sort of almost made out with your _brother_!"

I winced. "It wasn't like that," I started as my voice broke.

"You know, Max, I don't really want to hear it," he closed his eyes. "Once a liar, always a liar." And he stalked out of the room, leaving me alone once again.

I sighed and walked from the room. One thing I had to do was find Airi. I had to get to her before Fang did, or she would hate me for the rest of her life. Running out the door, I ran in the direction I'd seen Airi run only minutes before. I had to find her.

I ran down the hall and immediately bumped into Fang. "What are you doing?" I asked. "You're going the wrong-nevermind."

"What?" he asked distractedly? "No, I'm trying to find Airi!"

"Fang, I need to tell you something," I said bluntly, not waiting for a response. "Remember back at the bar, when we figured out we didn't love each other anymore?" He nodded.

"It's the same. We…we both regret…whatever just happened…and you don't regret love."

I could see the guilt wash from his face. "You're right," he said, a real smile right in front of me. "You're right, Max." I watched him walk away. Poor idiot. He still wasn't going the right way.

But I remembered, I had seen Fang run the wrong way. He had kept on the light path and not followed Airi along the dark path. I may not have been a national merit scholar, but I did know strategies and plans, I'd had my fair share of them. I took off along the dark hallway.

Halfway down, I reached up and felt one of the light bulbs. As I thought, it was still warm. Airi had been down this way.

I ran to the end of the hallway and turned a corner. I knew she could've gone farther than I'd expected. The end of the hallway was dark, but I knew better than to feel small and alone. Instead, I felt encouraged as I inspected another light bulb. Again, it was still hot.

Which meant I was getting closer.

I kept completely silent as I stood still in the hallway. Ever so slightly, I heard sniffling and a whole hell of a lot of sobbing. But it was soft. I took one quiet step at a time as I listened in all of the rooms.

Getting farther down the hall, I saw that it was a dead end. Oh, yeah. She had to be here. I finally heard the crying getting slightly louder as I stepped into the last room of the hall.

The crying immediately stopped at the sound of my footsteps. "Airi?" I asked quietly.

"Go away, Max," she said. "That was out of line back there, I shouldn't have gotten that angry. After all, Fang is only a guy," she sniffled, and then fell back into a fit of sobbing.

I went down and sat next to her.

"I'm not angry anymore," she sniffed. "I mean, he is a…a really great guy. I just…thought he was _my_ guy."

"He was!" I said, then automatically corrected myself. "He is! Airi, I told you. Nothing real happened and nothing was going to happen. I keep telling you, it was just because our new lives are starting, and he…he won't be in mine."

"But he still did it!" she sobbed into her arms. "He knew it would've hurt me if he found out, and he did it! _You _didn't love me, but _he _did! In fact, I was pretty much convinced since the first day in the hotel that you _hated my guts, _Max."

"What? No!" I said hurriedly. "I was just, well, first, if you tell anyone, I will rip your head off and feed it to the wolves. I guess I was just a little jealous."

"Jealous?" she stopped crying. "Why?"

"Well, you're actually kind of pretty," I grumbled, "and you have red tints in your hair. Fang likes red."

"What? Nevermind," she said. "So…you _don't _hate me?" she brightened. "Huh."

"Look, I'll have to work on Iggy. Man, he can hold a grudge," I said guiltily. "He really shouldn't forgive me. You shouldn't either…I don't think he'll ever forgive Fang," I said glumly. "Good luck with Fang, though."

"Don't tell him where I am," she begged.

"Fine," I rolled my eyes, but smiling.

"Hey," she said, grabbing my arm as I stood up. "He really loves you. That's why he's so hurt."

"Thanks," I smiled wryly.

**Airi POV **

Max was gone. I was on my own again, in the cold darkness of the storage room. And still, I couldn't find the willpower to get up. I had given Max courage, so why couldn't I find any? I wasn't nearly as confident as she was now. She was 'Maximum Ride', not Airi, the sewer rat who'd been rescued by six other mutant freaks.

I heard footsteps running down the hall once again. Didn't that boy ever give up? I crouched low behind the boxes and bunched myself in a little ball until all my muscles were aching. Still, I didn't move.

I winced as I heard the voice above me. "You have no idea how hard you are to find," Fang growled. Slowly, I opened one eye to see if he was really there, then groaned as I opened the other. Max was such a liar. She probably tipped him off.

"Go away," I said weakly. He didn't budge.

"Airi, I know Max has already been in here and talked to you, but…but it's true, damn it! I never meant to do anything like that, it just happened, and it's something that will never happen again!"

And his lips came crashing down on mine. His arms locked around me and I couldn't move. My fists beat against his back rapidly, but he wouldn't let go. Eventually, I couldn't think or do anything to stop him anymore, and I sank into his arms.

He pulled back abruptly. "Listen. It's not going to happen anymore. I'll always be here, alright?"

"I'm not sure if I believe you yet," I smiled shyly.

And he presses his mouth to mine once more.

**Max POV **

I ran through the halls, slowly making my way into the part where the lights were on. I ran past the pool and past the library, all the way to Iggy's room, where the lights were also out. I open the door, which was unlocked, and snuck across the dark room.

I stumbled and fell against a table. I rubbed my sore shinbone, thinking of the irony.

"Max," Iggy said monotonously, and I could barely make out his outline on the long couch, which he still barely fit on; his feet hung off the ends.

"Iggy, I…" my mouth suddenly became dry and I couldn't think. "I'm sorry," I said, instead of the huge speech I had planned stating how I would never do it again and how it didn't mean anything.

"I know you probably hate me, and you should," I admitted, tears welling in my eyes. "It was…it was kind of unforgivable, huh." I gave a weak chuckle. I felt like my knees were going to turn into jelly.

"I…I didn't want to hurt your feelings. You were never supposed to know." Seeing the look on his face, I continued, "Because it wouldn't have made any difference. It's done. For good."

"I love, you, Iggy," I groaned. "I love you and I'm sorry.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," I felt the tears sliding down my cheeks, but I didn't care. "I don't know what happened, but I didn't mean for it to happen. I wanted it to stop…oh, Iggy," I cried against his chest as he swept me in his arms and held me.

But it was in all seriousness that he thought of Fang, only of Fang and how he was going to pay for stealing me away for the second time in fourteen years.

**So, how was it? Sorry for all the Fax fans that died reading this :) Review, please ^_^**

**~Rachel**


	10. Murderous

**A/N - Alright, this chapter was definetly less sappy and more fun to write. I'm still searching for a pic of Airi to put on my profile...Tell me what you think by leaving a review, please? :) **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 10**

**Airi POV **

"I still don't forgive you," I muttered through a bite of French toast, but I was smiling as I said it. I was still sitting on my bed in my pajamas, eating the breakfast in bed that Fang had so kindly brought me. That kiss-ass.

"Yeah, you do," he grinned. "You're just that kind of person. You're so nice that you just _have _to forgive." I rolled my eyes and stabbed at a waffle with my fork. I hated it when he was right. Max was probably having a much harder time with Iggy, even if he was being nice to her. He didn't _really _forgive her.

I sent him a death glare. "I don't _have _to forgive you," I argued, and I pointedly put down the fork and turned away from him. I saw his shoulders slump out of the corner of my eye. He had already worn the enormous apron and cooking mitts, but I was going to torture him more. I raised one eyebrow. "But I just might forgive you for a strawberry smoothie. Go." And he was out the door.

I giggled to myself. I wasn't angry at Fang anymore. It wasn't like it was something that was going to happen again. I wasn't the type to hold grudges. When he told me that it was just for goodbye's sake and he wouldn't do it to me ever again, I believed him. But there were just some perks that were too good to resist.

One of them – free continental breakfast in front of me, all homemade. If anyone knew that Fang was actually as good a cook as Iggy, or better, considering the fluffiness of the pancakes, waffles and blueberry muffins, he would certainly be handing in his man card. I nibbled on a piece of bacon as I heard the freezer door slam and the blender turning on.

Apparently, my brother and I weren't as alike as I thought, even though we were obvious siblings. Iggy wasn't as happy and bubbly as I was, and he wouldn't take out his anger out on Max so much as kill Fang in his sleep. Fang knew that, but it wasn't like it mattered. Fang had been spending all his spare time with me anyway, ever since the fight, even though three days had passed.

Of course, Nudge had been as disappointed as ever when she heard that they were made up, much to Max's satisfaction. I didn't know what it was with Nudge, but I didn't know her very well, even though she clearly wore her heart out on her sleeves.

Fang came running in the doorway, and I grinned evilly. I quickly concentrated my hardest on making the force field of color appear as it had the day before. I still couldn't do it for fun, so I pictured a six foot tall whitecoat coming in with a needle. In a matter of milliseconds, the force field expanded before my eyes as I flexed my hand, slamming into Fang. The smoothie exploded and poured down his face and shirt.

Sputtering, he looked at me with murder, but all I had to do was smile sweetly before his expression softened and he simply wiped his face with a towel. "I guess this means you have to make me another," I cackled. He looked at me skeptically before walking out and fishing the ice cream and strawberries back out of the fridge.

I let the force field go, and it snapped away, the colors fading with it. Why couldn't I just make it on my own? Was it really just for defense, or was I still not powerful enough to use it to my full potential? When I didn't picture something that was threatening my life, I couldn't do it.

And Max had figured it out, which was why she had attacked me. I guess I owed it to her, or else I would have figured it out in the middle of an enormous battle, and been too confused to fight. Or, better yet, maybe I would've never figured it out. We were safe in the glass city. Maybe it would last forever.

…Yeah. And maybe, just maybe, I was Michael Jackson's long-lost granddaughter.

How many days did I have left like this? How many days did I have left with Fang and the flock, mindless days where we could do nothing, and yet everything? How many days did I have left playing pranks with Gazzy, and how many days did I have left learning the ABC's as Iggy learned Braille? And would I stay, was it really my home, here with them?

"Shit!" Fang shouted from the kitchen as the glass of my smoothie clattered to the floor and spilled all over his jeans. He hastily cleaned it up and glanced in the fridge again. I giggled as the color drained from his face. "Uh, Airi, we're out of strawberries…" he grimaced.

I thought of one of my worst days at the School, where that terrible half-human, half-Eraser had dragged me in for more tests and then gone into a fit of rage, breaking everything in the room and then dragging me back to my cage, only to kick it over again. But when the force field snapped out and hit Fang at fifty miles an hour, causing him to fly back into the wall, all I did was snicker.

"I guess chocolate'll do," I rolled my eyes. "Now make me a chocolate smoothie, slave!" He grumbled as he picked himself off the floor –still wearing the ridiculous apron, I might add- and grabbed the chocolate ice cream instead.

"Hey, a chocolate smoothie sounds nice, I'll have one too, Fang," Angel said cheerfully as she walked into my room. Fang rolled his eyes, ignoring her and continuing with my smoothie. Angel glared at him before running to my side and whispering in my ear. I nodded my head eagerly and thought of a jaguar attacking me. Another force field snapped out and knocked Fang into the blender. The smoothie splattered on his face once again.

"Make that two," I said cheerfully. Fang cursed and got more ingredients out of the freezer, covered in the contents of three smoothies now. Angel and I chuckled for a minute before I turned back to her. "So, Angel, any particular reason why you're here?" I asked lightly, offering her a piece of bacon.

Angel took a bite out of it quickly, and her eyes got large and round. "Oh, my God, Fang, this is amazing!" she shrieked, and then her face contorted into an evil grin. "Oh, wow. This is perfect. Time to hand in your man card, Fang." She held out her hand expectantly. Instead of handing her a fake man card, he promptly flipped her off.

She rolled her eyes and turned back to me. "Airi, it's important. Max sent me to tell you. No one important knows where this place is, and although it has defenses against people, it doesn't have defenses against wolf mutants with large claws."

I gasped. I knew where she was going with it. "Erasers are coming here?"

She nodded bitterly. "Yeah. Dr. Harrison told us that there's a pack of Erasers coming our way. But what's even stranger is that they don't have anyone controlling them. They're scheduled to expire in a few days, so they were turned loose, but they managed to find out where we are, and they're going to attempt to eliminate us on their own."

"So what's the problem?" I grinned. "This is a rematch I've been waiting for. Those bastards kept me locked up for thirteen years. We'll have no problem destroying them."

"No, Airi," she said impatiently. "This isn't like the other fights where we can just kill some of them and then the others escape. This is a pack of more than a hundred Erasers that we can't let escape, or they'll run back home and give away our position! Our safety depends on this fight!" The color drained from my face.

"There are only seven of us that can fight, against a hundred Erasers? We're not invincible! We can't kill that many! Angel, we'll lose! I don't want to run anymore," I clenched my hands around the bed covers, desperately trying to resist the urge to bite my fingernails off.

"Wait, but you have that force field thing! It's not like we'll die or anything," Angel offered, but I just sighed.

"I can't do that under pressure, and I can't do it when I want to, only if my life's going to be threatened."

She gave me a long look. "Airi, your life _will _be threatened." I knew that I was defeated. I had to be able to master this skill before the Erasers got there, or else I wouldn't have a life to protect anymore.

"How long before they get here?"

"They'll be here by midnight."

**Max POV **

I paced up and down the floor of the meeting room with the round table –always good to know that they replaced it- and thought to myself about how this was going to work. Gazzy and Iggy didn't really have time to make bombs, and I had no plan other than to do what we always did, fight brutally until we killed them all.

The only one in the room besides me was Iggy, because I had dragged him in there to help me think. Ever since we had 'made up', he had still been cold to me, and for good reason. I hadn't received one hug or one kiss or anything, and I was amazed that I had gotten him there at all.

Between the whole 'saving the world' thing and Iggy, I really didn't know which was more important to me personally. I'm sure lots of other people would be upset if I didn't save the world, but I needed him to trust me again. I didn't want there to be a wall between us for the rest of our lives.

He had barely said a word to me, and I knew that Fang was on his mind. I had tried to keep them as far apart as possible, and I had instructed Airi to keep him busy constantly, but there was only so much time before Iggy would get Fang alone and either beat him up or get beaten up.

Dr. Harrison had told us that the Glass world was built for the sole purpose of keeping us safe by concealing us from the rest of the world. In the middle of the desert and hundreds of miles from civilization, that was exactly what it had been doing. But somehow, Erasers had found our location and were coming for us. Dr. Harrison said they would be there by midnight. I had until midnight to think of a plan.

"You could help me," I said irritably, glancing at Iggy. He was sitting with his feet on the table and his eyes to the wall, despite knowing exactly where I was. He had a hard expression on, and I knew that his thoughts were nowhere along the lines of the battle.

He just rolled his sightless eyes and stared straight ahead, completely ignoring me. Not that I didn't agree with him that I was incredibly wrong in doing what I had done, but I was getting tired of him shutting me out and holding this stupid grudge. "Would you quit that?" I turned on him. "Stop pitying yourself for a few minutes and help me out! Or do you want to die today?"

He stood up and glared at me. Suddenly I felt small and powerless, but I squelched it down and stared at him with just as much frustration and anger as he spoke. "Pitying myself? Forgive me if I'm not able to forgive you so easily. You can't just keep pretending that everything's okay when it's not. You're right, I don't forgive you," he spat. I recoiled.

"No," he continued, advancing and backing me into a corner. "How am I ever supposed to forgive you or trust you again after what you did? How do I know that all this isn't a lie and he's not the one you want to be with instead of me? I think that kiss was proof enough," he said bitterly.

"That's not fair," I got in his face. "It wasn't good for me either to hear about you kissing Airi. If she wasn't your sister now, you'd still be in love with her."

"Don't turn this on me!" he shouted. "This is about you and my goddamn brother going behind my back and using my sight against me! I have to rely on trust all the time. I have to have people tell me things, and if it's not the truth, I don't know anything. This proves that I _can't _trust you."

"You can trust me!" I protested. "In all fourteen years of our lives, I've never once lied to you! Even about the kiss, I didn't lie to you! I never lied to you! It wasn't something that was ever going to happen again! God, you stubborn mule, let it go!" And with that, I stormed out of the room.

I ran out into the hallway and down to the exit. I dodged scientists and lunch ladies, and I almost tripped over Dr. Harrison himself as he walked down the hall absently with his nose buried in his clipboard. I burst through the double doors and took off running, kicking up sand. The heat stung my hair and in a matter of moments I was panting.

I received a rush of warm air as I spread my wings and launched myself into the sky. A cool mist traveled over my body as I passed through a cloud, and I was soaring into the sky, the glass city behind me just a dot in the distance. I could see everything going on inside until I got as far away as I could possibly get.

Seconds later, all I could see was sand. For all I knew, the sand would never stop. Back in Antarctica, I was cursing at the idiot who said the earth was warming. Now, I almost wished for the freezing cold weather. The ground was all the same, sand dune after sand dune. The clouds I passed through had little moisture; they were desert clouds after all.

Even the air rushing by me was warm air. Before I knew it I was drenched in sweat and my hair was plastered onto my forehead. And did I think of going back? Several times I wished that I could. But I had to put as much distance between Iggy and I as possible. I was convinced that he'd never forgive me. I had given up a guy like him for a kiss from my _brother. _

I kept flying in circles, being careful not to get too far from the city, or I wouldn't be able to find my way back. I tried to think of the fight, but again, all I could focus on was Iggy. When I looped back around with my back to the glass world, the sun was just starting to set. I knew I had to get home. But out of the corner of my eye, I saw something that made me strain my eyes to see it.

Then they widened in terror. This wasn't supposed to happen, not now. I had another five hours to go, and I wasn't near ready yet. I didn't even have the flock. In front of me and heading toward me, even though they were tiny specks in the distance, were around two hundred Erasers, more than expected. They were early, and they were angry.

I reeled around and flew at hyper speed. I had to warn the flock, before it was too late.

**Airi POV **

I walked into my enormous closet, having shooed Fang away only a half hour earlier after he had proven to make an awesome chocolate smoothie. Now that I was out of the shower, I was searching for something to wear. After trying on three pairs of jeans and four shirts, I saw that I was getting way too tall for any of this. These were all for normal thirteen year olds, and I looked around fifteen.

"Ugh," I groaned to myself as I pulled on a tank top that looked more like a bra and some short shorts that were once down past my thighs. When had I gotten so tall? I felt terribly like I was in a swimsuit as I grabbed some flip flops and stalked down the hallway to the room with all the fashion magazines. It was time for some new clothes.

"New look?" Gazzy snickered as he walked past. He was a head shorter than me, true, but he wasn't exactly looking at my face when he said it. I glared at him.

"My face is up _here, _Gazzy," I said irritably. "All my clothes are way too small. Yeah, I'm pretty much wearing a sports bra and daisy dukes, and I hate to break it to you, but you're eight years old. Maybe when we're forty you can date." He blushed scarlet, and I smirked.

"Hey, Gazzy, Dr. Harrison wants to talk to you about the lizard you put in his _whoah_!" he exclaimed when he walked up to us, eyeing my red tank top and short shorts. I gave an exasperated sigh. He was no better than Gazzy.

"My eyes are _up here_!" I groaned, and stamped my foot. Fang came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me.

"Come on, baby, I didn't mean it like that," he made the puppy eyes at me. I glared at him and removed his arms as I walked away, looking over my shoulder. Their eyes were most definetly not on my head. Fang raised his eyebrow at a staring Gazzy, who scowled.

I finally rounded the corner and walked into the room with the magazines. I scanned through the best ones and found some stuff that I actually liked. I told the woman working at one of the desks to put in an order for some, which she accepted. It was then that I noticed the girl in the back, who was also shopping.

"Nudge?" I exclaimed, running up to her. She gave me a brief glance and then went back to her looking. She was looking at a magazine with tube tops and shirts that showed way too much cleavage. I knew she was trying to be rebellious, but Max would have a heart attack if she saw any of it.

"You know Max isn't gonna let you get any of that stuff," I said quietly.

"Max is just gonna have to deal with it," Nudge said bitterly. I frowned and took the magazine from her hands. She looked up at me, and I knew she thought I was on Max's side and so I hated her.

"Nudge, I know you're upset about Iggy, but Max is still your sister, and she's still the leader. Dressing like a slut isn't gonna solve anything."

"Airi, you just don't get it," she snatched the magazine back. "I don't owe anything to her. She's taken me away from all the happiness I've ever had. When I made friends at school, she moved us away, and just when I thought I had a chance with Iggy, she wanted him for herself. I have no friends, and no guy. Tell me why I should give a shit what she thinks."

I heard the hurt in her voice. "I kind of thought we were friends," I said. "I don't hate you, and you helped me a lot getting Angel out of power. You were on my side, and nothing can take that away. So you don't have Iggy. You're still only eleven. When you're older, you'll meet a guy who's perfect for you, and who wants you and not Max."

"Now," I said, grabbing a magazine off the shelf that was more like Nudge, "I'll help you find some clothes that are hot and that Max will actually approve of," I grinned as Nudge wiped her eyes on a Kleenex and cleaned off the mascara. I handed her a new tube of the stuff and she smiled.

"Guys!" Max and the others burst through the door just as Nudge was applying the mascara. She stopped in the middle and Max spoke. "It's the Erasers! They're early, and we need your help! We can't let a single one of them escape!" Iggy was still not looking at Max, and Gazzy was still staring…not at my face, but we followed her outside anyway. Up in the sky were hundreds of Erasers, all grinning wickedly down at us.

"Into the sky!" she bellowed. "Go, go, go!" And we were off. I flew into the air with the others, and there we were, hovering in front of two hundred Erasers, more than expected. I got ready to flex my mind and create the force field, knocking them out of the sky by the hundreds. Gazzy had his only two bombs in his hand, and Angel looked like she was about to control their minds big time. Max looked positively murderous.

Fang gave my hand a quick squeeze before the first Eraser lunged at Max, and I recognized him immediately. He was the half-Eraser, the one who used to be a human, Batchelder's son. He threw himself at her, tackling in her in the sky before she kicked him hard in the stomach, and they all swarmed toward us. The fight was on.

In a matter of seconds, five of the Erasers flung themselves at me, and that was just the first row. I quickly deflected five kicks aimed for my chest with the force field, sending them flying back into the other Erasers and then into the ground. Even though Batchelder's son was fighting Max, he shot me a wink, giving me a once-over, eyeing my bare stomach. I rolled my eyes and punched one Eraser straight in the face, smirking when I heard the satisfying crunch of his nose.

Gazzy jumped in front of me when one tried to kick me again and pointedly karate-chopped him at the base of his spine, sending him spiraling downward. He threw a bomb into the center of the Erasers, sending around ten of them to their deaths. It must have been raining Erasers down there.

I saw an Eraser jerk around and then tumble around like it was possessed. I saw one of its legs break and I saw its wing snap. When it tumbled to the ground, Fang became visible again, his face like stone.

Angel was standing at the back, causing some of the other Erasers to attack each other. At first I thought we were actually winning, and in fact, we were! Already over fifty Erasers were piling up on the ground. Iggy didn't know where to swing his fists, so he was punching all around. What was weirder – he was actually hitting Erasers and taking them down.

I proceeded to take out five of the Erasers by making sure they would never have children again with quick kicks to their lower areas. They doubled over in pain, and doubling over in the air never works too well. The pain was so bad they forgot to flap, so they landed on the ground with the rest.

I bottled up all my power and quickly expanded the force field to slam down the whole first row of Erasers, taking twenty or so down at once. They were hurled to the ground again.

We all fought as hard as we could for almost a half hour. I was sweating and I could barely see, but I managed to take my share down. By the time we got down to the last ten, I took down my last one by grabbing his neck and bringing my knee up to his stomach. I chopped the back of his neck and released him, throwing him to the ground.

Angel caused two to fly straight into each other, their heads mashing together with an awkward crack that I was used to by now. And then, I saw what I knew I would dread. As we were busy fighting the last few, Batchelder's son was in the back, and sneaking away, I leapt after him with a wild cry, and the others realized what he was doing. He was going back to the School to give away our position.

Fang was a faster flyer than I was, because he'd been flying for years longer than I had. He caught up to him first, but he grinned and caught Fang off guard. He pulled out a knife and stuck Fang in the side, the side Fang told me had been sliced open earlier that year. He dragged the knife down deep inside Fang, and then flew away.

And the worst part? We were all too concerned with Fang almost dying that we forgot about him, and let him get away. All the hard work was for nothing. He would go back to the School. A war would be on our hands soon, a war we couldn't avoid.

That's how I ended up crumpled over Fang's jerking body on the sand, the blood soaking his shirt as hope left my heart.

**Don't freaking jump to conclusions, Fang will be alright. Do I sense a little Gazzy/Airi in this chapter? Strangely, I sort of like it. o.o Woo, finally ten chapters done. So, review? ^^ **

**~Rachel**


	11. Misunderstanding

**A/N - Meh. How am I ever going to get more readers if I refuse to update at regular intervals? I'm so screwed. Thanks to my -few- reviewers. *sweatdrop* R&R! **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 11  
**

**Airi POV **

I walked down the glass halls in a new summer dress that actually fit me and white wedges, with fresh flowers in my hand. I had discovered that in addition to everything that we already knew about the city, it also had a magnificent nursery. It was amazing how they grew flowers like that in the desert.

Of course, I suppose that the reason that I even had the flowers and was in my best summer dress was another matter. After the battle, Fang had been rushed to the hospital, the sickening sense of dread settling on our stomachs. It had all been in vain; Ari had escaped back to the School. The Eraser that had died and been rebuilt a hundred times was to be our undoing.

Fang was a bleeding mess at first. The slice in his side had gone almost too deep, just missing several vital organs. It was sheer luck that he was still alive. Ari had obviously taken pleasure in knowing that he had gotten Fang twice in the same spot.

What was worse, we had a war on our hands. In weeks, days or hours, the School's best fighters would be here, knowing that we'd be waiting. We couldn't leave Dr. Harrison and the others to fend for themselves, so we were stuck there, just waiting for chaos to erupt.

I walked into the hospital room to find him asleep. When he was asleep, he looked peaceful and normal, not like he was when he was awake, wincing at the burning pain. But then, they had to give him medicine to get any sleep at all.

I took the old wilted flowers out of the vase on his bedside table and replaced them with my new flowers, adding a cup of water –which, come to think of it, Fang might have been drinking- to make sure they stayed alive longer than Max's had.

Dragging a chair up to the bed, I sat down and tucked a piece of his hair behind his ears. I hated to see him like this. It had been one clumsy mistake to let Ari get away, he didn't deserve this. Max and I were especially worried about him.

I didn't pretend to know what was going on with Max and my brother, but I knew he still hadn't forgiven her. I doubted that they'd even spoken to each other in the last couple of days since Fang's…accident. Iggy kept to himself and Max was too stubborn to apologize again.

Angel bounced into the room just like she always did, smiling brightly as if we were at a birthday party. She hopped onto the bed, not caring if she woke him up. Thankfully, he just rolled over in his sleep and started snoring. "How is he?" she giggled. "As if I didn't already know."

"He's doing fine, no thanks to you," I grumbled. "Angel, I'm so scared. I still don't have the force field thing worked out yet, and the Erasers could be here anytime! What'll happen if I can't?"

"Airi, don't start doubting yourself. Your power works better if you have confidence in yourself. That's how I learned how to breathe underwater."

"Yeah, yeah," I said nervously, already chewing my nails off as I ignored her. She sighed dramatically before Fang's eyelids fluttered open, and our conversation was forgotten.

**Max POV **

As far as I was concerned, Iggy and I were broken up. There was nothing left to say for us, he clearly wasn't going to forgive me and I wasn't going to get on my hands and knees and grovel for him. I was okay with it…most of the time. It helped that I was so angry at him that I couldn't be sad.

Why I was in the library at all I had no idea. Why go to the pool or the game room with no one to share it with? The library seemed like a quiet place to think…and plan. I needed to think of something that would ultimately save us from Ari and the School. We'd need more than just fighting like normal on our side.

I crept towards the back of the library, past the dusty bookshelves and cobwebs, knowing that no one ever came back there. This was where the almanacs and dusty encyclopedias from the '80's were. But then I heard voices on the other side of a bookshelf, and I stopped in my tracks, hiding myself behind a huge stack of boxes. I peeked through a crack in the bookshelf to see them.

I could tell in a matter of seconds that it was Gazzy and Nudge, even before I looked. Their voices were particularly easy to pick out, and they were both clearly back there for a reason. My first thoughts weren't pretty. But it wasn't for the reason that I originally thought that they were back there.

"What am I gonna do about it, Nudge?" Gazzy asked in a worried voice. "I really, really like her, but she already thinks that she's too old for me, not to mention already having a boyfriend." He slumped against the wall, and I felt sorry for him. Gazzy had a little crush on someone.

"Tell me about it," Nudge said, sounding depressed. "I had just gotten over _him _when _she _came along and stole him away. He always has girlfriends, but it's never me!" she whined. "When is there gonna be a cool _available _guy for me?" I smiled. It was good that she'd gotten over Iggy, but the guy she liked apparently already had a girlfriend.

There _were _other teenagers around the city, but we rarely talked to them. They were mostly the daughters and sons of the scientists and employees that worked here. Not to mention that they were all human, and we didn't completely trust them yet. Call us weird, but humans naturally freak us out.

I walked casually out from behind the bookshelves, eyeing some of the books and trying not to gag. I pretended to be startled when I saw them, and they believed it. "Hey, what are you doing here? I was just trying to come up with a plan of attack," I said casually.

"Gotta go, Max," Nudge said hurriedly and dragged Gazzy away with her. I shook my head as I closed my eyes and got down to business.

**Airi POV **

I had discovered another thing that I hadn't known about after thirteen years in the School. After all that time around the labs and the shots and injections, I just couldn't stand hospitals. Going to see Fang, as much as I loved him, always made me feel worse, giving me a sense of dread.

I was happy to get out of there, as terrible as it sounds, when the nurse said that I might disturb Fang if I continued to stay there. He had woken up, and his pain continued. I tried to distract him, but nothing worked. He was miserable, and at this rate, he wouldn't be able to fight with us when it mattered.

As I rounded the corner, I saw Iggy and Nudge talking in a corner. My eyes widened and I ducked into another room, hiding and watching their little interaction. If Nudge was talking to Iggy again, things couldn't be good for Max. My new sister versus my new friend. Hmm, this could be interesting.

"So, you're _not _talking to Max anymore?" Nudge asked him, slightly confused, and I could see the mental battle going on there. Iggy shook his head vigorously. "Nope. As far as I'm concerned, she can go to hell. I never want to talk to her again."

Nudge took a deep breath. "Iggy…I really like you. I've liked you for a while now…and I guess if Max is gone, then if you want to…" But she never let him answer.

"Mffff!" Iggy flailed his arms as Nudge leaned in and kissed him with everything she had. I knew without asking that it was her first kiss, but he wasn't in the least ready for it. Was it because he wanted Max back? I would never know. He pried her off and stared at her.

She glanced up at him, confused, but it was only a moment before she leaned in again and pressed her lips to his. It was all I could do not to laugh as he pulled at her shoulders, desperately trying to get her off, as she held on with all her might. "Nudge!" he gasped when he was able to get her off.

"Look, Nudge," he panted. "Wow, you're a great kisser," she beamed at that. "But…it's just not going to work out between us. You're my sister. That's the way it is." Her face fell a little, but not too much.

"It's okay," she admitted. "I knew this would happen. But I'd be a fool not to take the chance." She turned around to walk away, but stopped and turned back. "It happened just like this for her and Fang. It wasn't supposed to happen, and she still loves you. Think about that, Iggy."

She left him standing there to gather his thoughts, and I was so proud of her. I stepped out from the doorway as she turned the corner, and she jumped when she saw me. "That was really nice of you," I smiled. "Max would be really happy if she saw that."

"Thank you," she answered, "But I didn't do it for Max. I'm still angry at her for yanking them both around. I'll get over it sooner or later. I did that back there for Iggy. She's the only thing that can make him happy. I figured that out."

"That was really mature," I shrugged. "Whoever you did it for, that was really mature."

I watched her walk off, and I felt a little better, almost forgetting about that battle that was coming. That is, until I ran into a very screwed-up version of Gazzy. I blinked to make sure it was really him.

His hair was greased back from his forehead, and he was wearing a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket. He was also wearing skinny jeans and black converse, and a fake earring in one ear. He looked different, and not in a good way. He backed me up against the wall and blocked me in on one side with his arm.

"Gazzy?" I asked, wrinkling my nose. This was so not going to end well.

"Funny running into you like this," he said with a Bronx accent, struggling to make his voice deeper, like he was going through puberty at age eight. "Well, as long as I got your attention, I just gotta say one thing."

"That would be…?" I asked, strangely frightened. "Look, Gazzy, just be yourself and drop the accent. Now what did you want to talk about?" I asked kindly. He took a deep breath in.

"Look, Airi, I know this…this might be hard to hear…but I really like you, even if I am a little too young for you. Now, before you say anything, I know that you already have Fang, but…if you'd just give me a chance…"

"Gazzy, you're eight," I pointed out, struggling to keep from laughing, "And I'm sorry, but Fang _is _my boyfriend, bedridden or not. I'm five years older than you, and I don't really think this is gonna work out. I appreciate you getting dressed up and borrowing Fang's clothes, but I can't be your girlfriend."

His shoulders slumped and his face fell. "I just…never got a girl to like me," he admitted. "I never met girls my age. And for you to be my girlfriend, well, that'd be really awesome. You're so cool, and you have wings."

I felt so bad for him, I felt myself caving. I knew I had to say no, but I just couldn't. "Well…maybe…now, this is just between you and me, you can't tell Fang. I could be your girlfriend…but we'd have to keep it a secret until you get older, okay, Gazzy?" His eyes lit up.

"Really, Airi? You're awesome!" He threw his arms around me, and I awkwardly patted his head. What had I gotten myself into?

**Max POV **

I stepped out of the elevator and onto the roof of the glass city. Note to self – always wear jeans or other pants when on the roof. Otherwise you get perverts staring up your skirt. That may or may not have happened to me the _last _time Dr. Harrison had requested to see me on the roof. This time, I was prepared.

I walked into the sun, and shielded my eyes as the light reflected off the glass. Dr. Harrison was standing in front of me, flanked by four girls in black ninja costumes. I almost snorted. They even had the little ninja masks with the eye slits. I kept my cool as I stood in front of him. "So?"

"Well, I've thought up a plan," he began.

"Woo, you thought! Pats for Doctor Harrison, everyone!" Apparently they didn't find that funny. That or ninjas really don't laugh.

"Anyway," he continued, "These four girls are trained assassins, but that's not what I'm using them for. They'll be going to the School and finding out what they're up to – when they'll be here, and what they're plan is. Then they'll report back here to give us a chance to formulate a plan of attack."

"…And you thought it would be cool to send ninjas after them?" I asked scornfully. "Listen, the School made me afraid to go in a hospital ever again. They'll tear those pixies to shreds. Leave the formulating plans to the flock. Buh-bye," I swiveled around and walked away."

A hand on my shoulder yanked me back around, and I came face-to-face with the tallest ninja. She had to have been twenty-two or so, but I was still a good five inches taller than her. "Listen, brat," she whispered. "Get off your high horse. You're only fourteen, and you're cheating with your very own wings. We can do everything you can do, and we can do it _better_."

I grabbed her arm and flipped her over my shoulder. She landed with a thud on the top of the glass, and it was a good thing it was several layers thick. She groaned and tried to get back up, but I kicked her back down, and I was wearing _flip flops_. I reached down and grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her up.

"Listen, princess," I smirked, "I'm a fourteen year old who just kicked your butt. Erasers are ruthless. If you're gonna do this, don't get caught, and stay unseen. It's not like you have wings to fly away."

It was her turn to smirk…I think. Her mouth was covered by that stupid face mask thing. She stepped away from me and whipped out her black, bat-shaped wings. They were obviously made of leather and some sort of cheap synthetic. I rolled my eyes. "Wow, so you made your own with some popsicle sticks and glitter. Try jumping off a bridge with those."

Well, she almost did. She took a running start and did a back flip off the side of the glass city. Her wings caught the air and pulled her up so that she was using the exact same technique we did. She could flap and everything. I glared up at her until she landed gracefully on the roof.

"It's my new invention," Dr. Harrison said excitedly, not noticing my extreme annoyance with his beloved new ninja-slaves. "There are bone-like structures on the inside, similar to yours. I created them when I studied Fang's wings in the hospital."

"You tested Fang's wings?" I screeched. "No! If you needed spies, _we _would go, not your stupid ninja-puppets!"

"Aren't they cool?" he asked happily.

"No!" I yelled. "We don't need these pathetic Barbies to do our work for us!"

"Max," he answered calmly, "You guys need to stay here and take care of Fang. He still can't go anywhere, and he needs you to be there for him. I'm sorry, but we just can't let you go. These four girls are just spies, alright? They'll bring us the information we need."

I shook my head and walked away like I was ten years old. This wouldn't end well.

**Airi POV **

I paced around my room as I tried to figure out what to do about this. If I told Fang that I was technically 'dating' both Gazzy and him, he would freak out over nothing. There was no use telling him what he would overreact about, and there was certainly nothing to tell. This totally ruined our friendship brother-sister thing, him liking me.

Not that I wasn't flattered, but it was a little creepy. I was five years older than he was. Maybe it would have made a difference if he was two feet taller and we were twenty years older, but I didn't like what I was doing to him. I just wanted to give him some pride in himself or whatever he was trying to get.

It was only because I felt sorry for him! He gave me those puppy-dog eyes ("Bambi Eyes", as Fang calls them) and I fell for it. So now Gazzy thought that we were dating, and I was only pretending. Plus, do eight year olds even know _how _to make out? Don't think so.

I trudged down the hall to Fang's room to check on him again. When I walked in, there were no nurses around and Fang was finally awake. He looked like death, but he was awake. Despite his condition, I pulled out a bottle of perfume and sprayed the whole place with it to tone down the antiseptic smell.

My blood ran cold as he glared at me when I sat down. I knew it was coming. "Why are you dating Gazzy?" He almost shouted, then winced, clutching his side. "Airi, do you have any idea what you've done? And you got mad at me for kissing Max!" I glared down at him. "I mean, Max kissing me. The point is, I thought we had something!"

"You diva," I muttered. "It's fake, Fang. I'm trying to make the kid feel better about himself by getting a girlfriend. He feels really inferior and so I'm doing him a little favor."

"Oh, so he knows it's fake," Fang said. "Look, Airi, he'll get way too into it. He'll start rubbing it in my face, thinking that you've broken up with me, and go on and on about how you don't want a bedridden boyfriend or something."

"So?" I asked. "Just go along with it until I can find him a cute kid girlfriend whose parents work here. It won't be long. I'll just need a few days of you and I pretending, and then we get him to fall in love with the girl." I wasn't scared of Gazzy.

"You'd do that to a sweet little innocent eight year old girl?" he asked in awe. "Wow, Airi, I didn't think you were that cold." He paused for a moment before continuing. "And…I bet that if he's your boyfriend, he'll want to kiss you." My eyes widened.

"Yeah, yeah, he'll definetly want to kiss you," Fang said, raising an evil eyebrow.

"I gotta get that kid a girlfriend!" I cried, and ran out of the room.

**Max POV **

When I walked off the rooftop and back to the main hallway, I was still fuming mad. That idiot thought he could bring in more people that could do a better job than us, just wait, they'd get killed or kidnapped or hurt in some way by the School. I was sure of it.

But my rage was temporarily forgotten when I saw two people come into view, two particularly short people, pressed against each other against the wall. I crept along the wall until I leapt into a room, where I stuck my head out and saw that one of the two people was...Gazzy?

There he was, alright. He was pressing a girl about his age into the wall, and they were locked in each other's arms. But that wasn't what was bothering me. It almost looked like he was eating the girl's face, like a demon from one of his anime shows.

That was the only explanation. Gazzy was too young to have a girlfriend…wasn't he? "It's horrible, I know," a whisper came from behind me, and I jumped. But it was only Airi. Had she been here the whole time? And she hadn't stopped him?

"You see, he had a crush on me…" she began, "So, to free myself from the embarrassing situation, I wanted to get him a girlfriend. When I was in the library stalking little girls –not what you think- I found one who looked sweet and nice. Turns out she's Dr. Harrison's kid. I introduced them and left them alone to talk. And now…" She motioned to the scene before us.

Despite being far too young, he was indeed making out with her…or _trying _to make out with her. The little girl almost looked like she wanted to escape, but he had her pinned to the wall and was basically attacking her, slobbering on her face and chewing on her lip. It was both disgusting and fascinating to watch.

"They only just met," she explained, "and he didn't even break up with me. But he seemed to like her, so I left them alone! I never thought that they'd like each other _this _much! God, it's a good thing I didn't let him kiss me!"

"We should do something," I said hesitantly. "This could he very harmful for her physical and mental health. We have no idea where that boy's been."

"You're right," she said, but she made no move to stop him.

Finally, the girl pushed him away. "Don't you know you're not supposed to _breathe?_"? she yelled, wiping the saliva off her face. "Honestly, I know it's your first time, but you could do better!" And she stormed off.

But then something happened that was like, holy shit weird. Two uber-tall guys in suits and sunglasses stepped in front of her, blocking her way. They flipped open their jackets, and badges were pinned to the inside. "Veronica Harrison," they said with authority, "You're under arrest for one thousand and forty-nine counts of illegally downloaded music on the internet. We've tracked you through Limewire, and you were found to have downloaded all of it onto one pink iPod Nano."

"You're coming with us," the other one said. "Downloading free music is a very serious crime. It's right up there with speeding and jaywalking." He pulled out a walkie-talkie-thing. "Yeah, we got a downloader," he spoke into it, then to her. "We're taking you in."

"B-but I only used it to download Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga!" she protested. "The _clean _versions! I'm only eight!"

"Oh, Miley Cyrus? That _is _a crime," Airi noted.

Gazzy watched in twisted horror. The love of his life had been an illegal downloader.

"We found you downloading such music as the Insane Clown Posse's music. Do you know how many swear words are in that song, little lady?" Her eyes darted from side to side. "Nooooo…." She answered shakily.

But they dragged her away, and in a few minutes, Veronica Harrison was completely history. Gazzy slumped against the wall, stunned. Airi and I came out from the room and patted his shoulders. "Airi," he said, and she winced, knowing he would ask her to be his girlfriend again.

"I think I need to break up with you," he said, surprising us both. "Girls are a nightmare."

**For those of you who have heard the Insane Clown Posse...you gotta lot of problems. And the only reason I know is that my friend raps them. All the time. If you don't know, keep yourself sane and don't google. And for the record, anyone who likes Miley Cyrus should be shot. Lady Gaga, not so much. (Pokerface is my favorite song D:) **

**Don't forget to leave a review~!**

**~Rachel  
**


	12. Manipulated

**A/N - I would like to give a sincere thank you to Ana3498 for giving me the links to a picture of Airi! It's on my lookup for anyone who wants to see it. She's also helped me with my other story, "My Girl". Thanks so much for it! You're awesome! **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 12**

**Airi POV **

Flipping through a magazine, I sat in the hospital recliner lazily as Fang watched something stupid and mind-numbing. The nurse had set it on Spongebob and then pointedly stolen the remote as payback for his last remark about nurses being the ones who just weren't smart enough to get into medical school. Ah, yeah. Quality time and all that.

"You know, it's not really your shift of spending time with me if you're just gonna read that magazine," he said irritably. "When are they gonna let me out of here? At this rate, the Erasers will come and I'll be stuck here with the remote-stealing nurses." He frowned at me, and I rolled my eyes and put down the magazine.

Fang, you'll be out when the doctors and _nurses _say you can get out. Until then, stop being a pain in the ass for the rest of us. Personally, I'm convinced that if you're well enough to whine at all of us, you're well enough to leave. But they don't think so, do they?" I asked irritably. "I'm trying to read. I learned the letters A-L. So please. Please shut up."

He gaped at me. "You're opening up," he said with a smile. "I thought you were quiet and sweet and nice." My face must have fallen a little. "What I mean is, you're standing up for yourself more now." I brightened again.

"What did you think I was, a doormat? I was just shy!" I rolled my eyes when the intercom came on.

"Airi, please report to Doctor Harrison in room thirty-three on the first floor. That will be all."

"I gotta go," I said, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, which turned into a little something more. Five minutes later, Gazzy walked in, only to find us both sprawled on the bed, my fingers in his hair. If I was hurting his side, he didn't complain.

"My eyes!" Gazzy yelled, tried to run and tripped to the floor. "To find my Airi in the arms of another man…."

He saw the look on Fang's face. "I was just kidding. Seriously, though, Airi does have to come with me. She's late. Now I see why." He rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand, yanking me off the bed and down the hall to whatever was waiting for me in room thirty-three.

**Max POV **

I tapped my foot impatiently as I sat in Dr. Harrison's "room thirty-three" with Nudge, Iggy, Total and Angel. We had sent Gazzy to go get Airi, and I couldn't see what was taking them so long, anyway. Time to get right to Dr. Harrison's waste of time for the day. What we were staring at was a curtain covering almost the entire room.

I was losing respect for the man more and more each day. It didn't seem like he did things the right way, the way things should be done according to me. How long exactly had he been a flock leader? Oh, never? Just what I thought.

Looking up, I could see Gazzy towing Airi into the room. Dr. Harrison walked out of his office exactly that moment, and clapped his hands together the way I thought a gay psychiatrist might. "Okay! So, you kids know that I've sent special trained professionals to figure out what the school's plan is."

"You mean, spies," Iggy clarified with a sarcastic smile planted on his face. "Max told us all about it." I rolled my eyes. What was with him sticking up for me all of a sudden? If there was something he wanted to say to me, he could say it. Whether he wanted to officially break up or apologize, I never wanted to forgive him.

Dr. Harrison frowned. "The point is that the Erasers could be here at any time. You need to be prepared when they do, and next time there's going to be a lot more of them. You can't let any escape, this is crucial. So it's going to be my job to get you physically prepared."

"You're going to jump out at us with an Eraser costume and snarl at us?" Angel snickered.

"No more interruptions, please!" he said, growing frustrated. What can I say? We're masters at getting people to lose their cool –in this case, what Dr. H never had-.

"In short, this," he said, tearing back the curtain, "is your personal training room." The curtain fell to the floor to reveal punching bags, weights and exercise machines. I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing. He looked at me questioningly.

I struggled to catch my breath as I fell off the bench laughing. In around two minutes I picked myself off the ground. "You…you want _us _to try to make ourselves better fighters? Against regular Erasers by training in this tiny little gym? You've gotta be kidding me!"

"I think you'll be surprised how well they work," he said, then left the room quickly.

"What was that about?" I practically yelled at the flock. "What is his deal with acting all superior? We can't let him treat us like that!"

"Like what?" Airi asked. My head swiveled towards her in disbelief. "He's just trying to do what's best for us. He just wants to help us by letting us, like, work out here. And he's been nothing but nice to us since we've been here, putting up with all the trouble we've brought with us. I think we can trust him, Max."

And that was what I hated about Airi. She was just too trusting, and she always had to do things her own way. "Excuse me?" I asked her. "I don't think you're exactly the leader of the flock, Airi. You have to work your way up to be one. And if you didn't know, I happen to be that person. So you'll sit down and listen."

"Max, I know you dislike him, but that's no reason to assume the worst. He's probably a good person with a family and everything, not to mention the fact that he just lost his daughter to a juvenile detention center. Give him a break! What do you expect he is, an Eraser in disguise?"

"Oh, that's it," I glared and lunged for her, and she didn't hesitate to growl and leap up to strangle me as I had planned to do to her. We were at each other's throats when Gazzy yelled, "Catfight!" and Iggy jumped in between us, prying us apart. We struggled against his arms, but he held me back while trying to push Airi off of him.

I elbowed him in the chest and struggled to be free, but he pushed me off. "Sit down!" he yelled, and we did so. We smoothed our hair and looked in opposite directions like that hadn't just happened. "Max, everyone is innocent until proven guilty. And Airi, we can't be so trusting. You do have to think a little when it comes to positions of power."

"Guys, it couldn't hurt," Angel spoke up. "Let's just try to get ourselves more physically fit. Living here and not running or fighting has got to have weakened us a little. Maybe that's why Ari was able to escape. Let's just try this, alright?" The rest of the flock nodded, and I had to give in.

"Fine. Run on some treadmills, lift some weights, do whatever. I don't care. But I don't care what Doctor Harrison says, this voodoo workout stuff is not going to make us stronger or more physically fit than we already are."

We all split up. Iggy took the weights with Angel, because it wasn't like he could run on a treadmill or use the punching bag. Man, that would be ironic. He followed her over and picked one of them up. "Hey, this is totally light! Max was right after all!"

"Um, genius, you picked up the five-pound weight. Try this one." Angel picked up another weight with ease and dropped it into his hands. He caught it and his arms dropped to the ground. "Man, what is this?"

"Ten pounds," she answered simply.

Nudge ran to the treadmill immediately and set a steady pace for ten miles per hour, which was particularly easy for her after I told her to put all the power in her mouth into her feet. Well, that was just dandy until she actually ran so fast that she smacked into the front of it. "Who said exercising never killed anyone?" Total joked.

Gazzy walked over to the punching bags and made two fists, like it was about to be beaten to a pulp by an eight year old. I rolled my eyes as I walked over and bench pressed eighty pounds with my left hand only. Gazzy scowled at me. "Oh, yeah? Well, get ready to be owned, Max. He swung his fist out, sending it crashing into the punching bag."

For three seconds, it was perfectly silent. Then, "Oh, _shittt!_" He held his hand to his chest, cradling it in his other arm. "Jesus, that was bad! What the heck is that thing made out of, anyway?"

There was an awkward pause before I answered him. "Um, Gazzy, that one happens to be filled up with _air_." He stared at me and then looked back at the punching bag, glaring at it before giving it one more kick.

Airi's face fell. "Max is right. We're totally doomed."

**Outside the School **

Emi's wings were out, hovering behind her as she scaled the side of the building. The thin black material that covered her face and body was making it hard to breathe, and she knew that the others were having a time of it, too. It was the dead of night, their outfits blending with the surrounding darkness. The only color involved was her long blonde hair peeking out of her ninja mask that covered up a pretty face.

That Maximum Ride girl that she had fought had been a brat, acting so stuck-up and so much better than she was. But she would show her. She would show that little snot who was the best, who was the leader in this group of 'ninjas' and who could kick her butt any day.

Her fingers were slipping off the bricks, however skilled and trained she was to use them. Her black leather boots were also no help at all, and she was losing it. Digging the only grappling hook she had out of her belt, she knew she had to shoot it to the roof.

The redhead with large, almond-shaped eyes, Ami, saw her. "Emi, no!" she hissed. "If that shoots at the roof and they see you, you're done for and the entire mission is over! You can't be captured by them!" The defiant look in Emi's eyes silenced her, and she continued climbing. "Don't do this," she pleaded.

"She's right," Umi piped up, which surprised them both. The raven-haired, dark-eyed girl was always the most reserved. Umi was the silent one, the one that could be counted on to remain calm in dark situations. But this time was different. This could mean their lives, all of their lives, if they weren't careful. "Emi, use your wings."

"I can't!" she hissed down at them desperately. "If I do, I'll have to flap and make noise, plus get away from the wall. I just can't do that! We'll be seen either way, and Dr. Harrison sent us on this mission so that the flock doesn't die. As much as I hate it, we can't let them down!"

And they were defeated. They knew she was right, even if they didn't like it. When they were sent on this mission, they knew that they could be injured, or even killed. They had to take any and all chances, and they hadn't even peeked in the window yet.

Closing her eyes tightly, Emi shot the grappling hook, wincing when she heard the clink of it landing against the edge of the roof. She pulled herself up slowly, Ami and Umi grabbing onto both of her legs.

As they pulled themselves onto the roof slowly, the clouds passed over the moon, and they were surrounded in total darkness. At first, it all seemed normal and Okay. Ami took off her mask of a hood to unwrap and re-wrap her hair, the flash of red signaling that she was near on the clear night.

"Don't!" Emi and Umi almost screamed, but it was too late. Ami's red hair had been all too colorful in the darkness, and hundreds of the School's whitecoats had been sitting in wait for the three of them. It was clear to Emi that Dr. Harrison's plan hadn't gone precisely the way it should have.

They were hauled to the ground by hundreds of hands, forced onto their knees as every part of their bodies were checked for weapons. Together, there were thirty-nine, the majority coming from the silent Umi. Their masks were ripped from their faces, revealing Emi's face, contorted into a snarl, Umi's silent face whose eyes showed every bit of fear she had, and Ami's innocent confusion, hurt and humiliation.

A large, smelly, furry hand grasped Emi's face suddenly, a claw raking down it and drawing blood. He certainly didn't mind having more of that on his hands. Emi looked up and saw the face of the one Eraser that was a mistake at the School, that had died this year in Europe but had been rebuilt again – Ari.

"Welcome to the School," he smiled, his fangs glinting in the moonlight.

**Max POV **

After the workout, pretty much everyone was sweating except Airi, Angel and I, which was sad, because it was all the guys. We went out separate ways, most of us to take a shower. I didn't exactly need one, so I just wandered down the hall to my room. I never assumed that anyone was following me or anything.

That changed when I was grabbed by my wrist and pulled into what I discovered to be a supply closet. My fists pounded against the chest of my captor as I heard the door lock behind me, and I snapped my arm out, slapping him across the face with all my will. I grabbed his shirt to pull him into the air, but he was much taller than me.

My arms reached up, and my fingers captured his neck, squeezing and hurting. I was practically throttling whoever it was, and I was winning. I snarled viciously. If this one was from the School, this was pathetic. "Max…i-it's me…I-I-Iggy!"

I let go of him, sending him crashing to the floor in a heap. I knelt next to him, next to furious. "What were you thinking, yanking me into a supply closet?" I shrieked at him, more worried about him than I was angry about being surprised.

"I needed to talk to you," he said simply. "We've been avoiding each other, and I didn't just want to ask you."

"I'm listening."

He took a deep breath. "I realized that it would be stupid of me to be angry of you for something that wasn't going to happen again. I forgot why we were even fighting a few times. I know I acted like a jerk. This was my fault, too. I want you back, and I never want to let you go." I gasped. He'd let himself become completely vulnerable.

But a flood of thought came back to my head, and I realized that it was better this way, even though my heart ached for Iggy. My brain shook off the thought, and I always think on my feet. "No," I said bluntly, pulling him to his feet and dusting him off lovingly. I cursed at myself and pulled my hands away, turning away from him.

"Why?" he asked, not bothering to hide the hurt in his voice. I didn't blame him.

"Angel was right when she said that we couldn't be together. I've got things to think about, and this doesn't need to be one of them. With you being gone…it's given me time to clear my head and think. I have to let you go. It's better this way."

I turned and walked out of the supply closet, unfeeling and cold-hearted as Fang on a bad day. I chuckled dryly, but my throat was dry and my eyes were watering. I began to walk faster, putting as much distance between us as I could.

"I love you," he called after me, and I stopped in my tracks. I closed my eyes and a single tear fell down my cheek before I ignored him and kept walking.

**Emi POV **

The door to my cell opened, and Ari came in with a tray of food. Not as much as I was used to eating, but that wasn't the worst of the problems I would face here. I turned my nose up as he smiled. "The last time you were here, I had to put you in a dog crate," he recalled. "But you were too tall this time."

"Cut the crap," I snarled, struggling with my chains. I was pretty much shackled to the wall.

"Oh, that's right. You don't remember the last time you were here, do you? In fact, it's been a little over eleven years ago, hasn't it? You even gave yourself a new name. 'Emi', was it?"

"What are you talking about?" I didn't understand. My only memories were from age eight and up. Dr. Harrison had told me that my parents had died in a traumatic car crash and that I had simply blocked out the memories from the stress.

He released me from my shackles, but pinned me to the wall before I could escape. "Then why do you have wings, Emi?" I blinked. Wings? The flock had wings. Did he mean the fake contraptions on my back? In one fluid motion, he raked his claws along my clothes, not touching my skin. They fell to the floor, and I was only in my bra.

He turned away from me to spare me some dignity, pointing at a mirror on the opposite end of the room. I glanced over my shoulder, and what I saw frightened me. Coming out of the skin of my back were two tawny-colored, feathery wings, about fourteen feet across. But how could I have missed them?

"He's been lying to you," Ari answered my unasked question. "Every night he gives you medication so that you don't remember once you put on that black cloak of yours. You never see them, and if you do, he erases it. Don't you see, Emi? _He's _the evil one!"

I couldn't believe it. Not caring for modesty, I sank to the ground and sobbed, my blonde hair pooling around me. Had I been lied to my entire life? Was Ari lying to me now? I just couldn't think about it. I didn't believe Ari. I couldn't.

**Ami POV **

I had stopped screaming for help a long time ago, because that wasn't going to do it. Emi and Umi were both in separate rooms, and this was the first time in a long time that I had been on my own with no one to talk to. I was scared. Even back at Dr. Harrison's glass city, I had always shared a room with Umi. Now they were gone from my life.

I couldn't even brush my red hair off my shoulders, or wipe the tears from my eyes, because I was shackled, spread-eagled, to the wall. I didn't have any food or water, but that wasn't what I wanted. All I wanted was some human companionship, or to be back at the glass city where I belonged.

The door creaked open, and I winced in fear and pathetic misery, hoping with all my heart that it wouldn't be that horrible Eraser for me. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that it wasn't. Of course. Ari was probably off tormenting Emi somewhere. A whitecoat walked into the room with a clipboard, but no needles.

But I wasn't able to relax just yet. I had to see what he was there for, if he wanted to hurt me. "I just want to ask you a few questions," he said politely, and I knew that my own question had been answered. I gave a weak smile and nodded. This one seemed nicer than they usually were. He was young, so he must have been new; not yet knowing how to torture the answers he wanted out of me.

"Alright, your name's Ami, and you're seventeen, right?" I nodded.

"And it's true that you have no relation to the others, um, Emi and…Umi?" I tilted my head to the side in thought.

"Well, not exactly," I replied. "They're my sisters, even though we're not really related. They're my sisters and my best friends, even though we don't look alike. We all changed our names to be alike. So you see, we're very close."

"…Alright, then," he said. "I just have one more question for you, then." I waited patiently as he paused. "Do you remember anything about your past?" I shook my head.

"Only from age eight. Before that, my parents were killed in an airplane crash." He shook his head. I wondered if I had said anything wrong.

"I'm sorry to have to do this," he said before pulling out a gun. He forced it against my forehead. "Take off your outfit. Take off the shirt, nothing else. You can leave a bra on, but take off the shirt. Hurry!" By now, tears had sprung into my eyes and I removed the piece of clothing, letting it hang at my waist.

Fanning out from behind me automatically were two large, white wings. They weren't like the fake ones in the outfit that I had taken off, they were real. The mirror across the room revealed them coming through slits in my back. They were real, and it wasn't a game.

"…Why weren't those there before?" I asked shakily.

"They were," he answered solemnly. "You've been drugged to believe that they weren't. You've always had them, and they're as real as the flock's. You three are the first ever bird kids, and your precious "Doctor Harrison" has tried to keep it from you."

I looked at him in awe. "Don't you get it?" he continued. "The School is working _for you_. Sure, we've had to run some serious tests on the flock that could have killed them or might have seemed cruel, but it was all to figure you out so that we could help you. We are not your enemy! Your enemy lives in the glass city."

"Who?"

"The only man you trust, Dr. James Harrison."

**Umi POV **

In the next room, I heard Emi sobbing, and I heard Ami hit the floor when that whitecoat requested backup. She had fainted when she had heard the news, but I had seen it coming. I always had to be the smart one, always had to be the one with the plan, because I was a thinker.

What I had discovered was that every morning, I would wake up and not even think that I had wings. Sometime around noon, I would figure it out. Then at night, we took a special 'vitamin' that Dr. Harrison had said was for our health. But it was to ensure that we didn't remember. I saw them now, my own pure black wings, fanned out behind me, matching my hair.

Slowly, while not taking the pills that he had sent with me, I could remember things from my childhood. Like that my parents weren't killed in a fire, that I had come home from second grade to find them dead on the floor. Slaughtered, murdered by someone who I didn't know.

But I knew who it was now. It was the traitor of the century, the man that I had considered to be my father for nine years. The one who had built the glass world, and lured Maximum Ride and her flock into it.

They were all doomed to die.

**Three new OC's, people, the 'ninjas' from the last chapter! Not as important as Airi, of course ^^ But I do want to know what you think of them. Thanks for reading and don't forget to drop a review! **

**~Rachel**


	13. Mischance

**A/N - Sorry! I was on vacation for a week, and there was no computer ANYWHERE. Yeah, I'm probably the only one who thinks of writing on a vacation. So, yeah. Anyways. I have big ideas for this chapter, the next chapter and the rest of the story, so stay with me here! Next chapter will be a superlongspecialchapter! x3**

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 13**

**Airi POV **

I was sitting in the exercise room easily, not even breaking a sweat –well, reading, actually-, when Dr. Harrison walked in and smiled at me. "Having fun, Airi?" he asked kindly, and I grinned. I held up the ABC book I'd been 'working' on. "Tons," I replied easily, showing him what page I was on, which happened to be page six.

He grimaced jokingly, and I laughed. I didn't see why Max didn't trust him. He'd been totally cool with all Gazzy's pranks, all my mistakes and the flock's continuous trouble. I guess Max just wasn't a naturally trusting person like I was. "So, why aren't you preparing for the battle? You know the Erasers could show up at any time," he explained, worriedly.

I lifted my head from the book and set it lightly on the bench. He gave me a confused look, but I held up my index finger and walked over to the weights, grabbing a thirty-pound super-weight from the stack. Placing it carefully on my pinkie finger, I balanced it perfectly, even twirling it a little.

"Does it really look like I need practice?" I laughed. "I've got this whole superhuman strength thing down. Maybe you should round up Mr. I-can't-beat-up-a-punching-bag Gazzy," I offered, setting the weight down delicately.

"Hey!" A muffled shriek came from the back of the room, and I whirled around. Who was in here? But when Gazzy poked his head out from under a pile of weights and dumbbells, I smirked.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the boy in question," I giggled. "Trying to earn back your man card, Gazzy? I've got news for you – _Angel _has more testosterone than you'll ever get." I snickered as he chucked a one-pound weight at me and missed.

"Careful, don't hurt yourself."

"Shut up!" he stamped his foot impatiently, not unlike a twelve-year-old girl. "Airi, this is serious. If I can't learn how to punch and fight, not to rely on just bombs, we're going to lose! I don't have the right materials to make bombs here! I used all the ones I brought since we moved here."

I saw the hurt in his eyes, but he was just an eight year old boy. He wasn't supposed to be fighting, and no eight year old –even the eleven year old he looked like- could fight that well. But then I remembered – oh, crap. Angel could fight better than him.

Of course, she didn't really have to, she could just control their minds. But like I always say, it's the thought that counts! Get it? It's a pun…oh, nevermind.

I had an idea then. If I worked with Gazzy –since I wasn't busy with the planning like Max was-, then we could train together for the battle, and I would make him stronger. Of course, I wasn't talking bodybuilder strong, just a few muscles to replace the baby fat.

"What if I could train you?" I asked slowly. His eyes lit up, but I didn't want to get his hopes up. "I think I could make you stronger. It'd be hard, and you'd have to train long hours, but in a few hours, I could teach you some stuff to make you more stable fighting and less…weak…" I searched for the right words. He frowned slightly.

"Look, do you want me to teach you or not?" I said, annoyed. "If I'm going to keep getting interrupted from reading my book, at least I'll be able to say that I did something worthwhile!" He thought on it for a moment before nodding, an eager smile on his face. I beamed down at him.

I was so happy we were back to being friends and not that uncomfortable situation where he liked me and I had to pretend to be his girlfriend. He still didn't know that it was fake, and that I had never liked him, but I figured what he didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

There was a loud crash as another cascade of weights fell over, and a very groggy-looking Iggy popped his head out, his head wobbling before falling blankly into the wall. I raced over and held his face in my hands until his eyelids fluttered open.

"Iggy, what did you do?" I asked worriedly. "You shouldn't over-exert yourself trying to work out, no matter how much you want to win the war! I'm sure you're strong enough to take care of the Erasers…" I trailed off, seeing the ten-pound weight still clutched in his hand.

"God, you don't have to mother-hen me to death," he said irritably. "Look, as long as you're training Gazzy, how about helping me out, too, huh? I can't lift anything," he complained, "and my girlfriend can kick my ass." I saw a sad look pass over his face, and I thought I heard him mumble something about an "ex-girlfriend".

"Fine," I said kindly. "I'll help the both of you. This is going to be so easy. By the end of the day, you'll be able to kick Eraser tail, Airi-style," I said proudly, sounding more confident than I felt. I wasn't a miracle worker, after all. A couch pillow could beat them up.

I lead them over to the punching bags to the side of the room, and yes, they were the ones filled with _air_. "We're going to start small, guys," I instructed. "I want both of you to take a bag and send it spiraling against the wall. Like this," I demonstrated by swinging my fist out and smashing the bag into the wall behind it.

It may not have been such a good idea to place them _right next to _the wall.

"Now you try!" I said cheerfully, and I mean much, much more cheerfully than I felt. All I really wanted to do was read my ABC book and finally learn how to _actually _read, but if they didn't fight well, we would lose this 'war'. I had to do this, for the flock.

Just as Gazzy's fist swirled through the air, there was a shriek in the back of the room. I groaned as Gazzy ignored the bag and went to check it out. I followed him to the back of the room, where Nudge was emerging from behind one of the treadmills. A one-pound weight was lying next to her. "That hit me on the head!" she wailed.

"I take it you want me to train you, also?" I groaned. She nodded swiftly.

"Yeah! Well, all I want to do is run on the treadmill properly, but I'll train with you guys! Let's go!"

She ran straight to the punching bags, stopping too late and slamming into the first one. I sighed. It was going to be a long day.

**Emi POV **

The door to my cell remained closed after Ari left, and although it had only been a few hours, I was already beginning to feel the loneliness setting in. I couldn't stand to be alone. It drove me crazy, not having anyone. I was alone with the memories of my past, and my _real _childhood nightmare.

I knew it was the same for Ami and Umi. I had been told by Dr. Harrison that my parents had died in a car crash, that Ami's had been killed in an airplane accident, and Umi's had burned up in a fire. It was all a lie. He had killed them, and with his own hands. He was a monster.

Slumping against the wall, my eyelids fluttered open and closed as I drifted between sleep and alertness. I had let my guard down long ago, not caring what they did to me. There were only a few things I could be sure of anymore. How could I tell the difference between truth and lies? But slowly, I had started to remember my childhood.

_Flashback_

_Second grade was everything I had hoped it would be. My teachers were nice, they rewarded me with praise and showered attention on each and every student. I always felt like I was special, and they told me that I would go far in life because I had determination. _

_I had lots of friends. I had made plans to have a sleepover with Katie this weekend, and Jessica was inviting me to her Halloween party next month. Everything would be perfect, and Mommy was taking me shopping for my costume tonight. As I skipped down the street, I blew a large pink bubble, chomping noisily on the gum. _

_When I got to the house, I grasped the doorknob tightly and twisted easily. It stayed still, which was strange, because Mommy always kept the door unlocked around this time. It didn't worry me any, because I knew that on tired days, she took a nap. She was probably resting. _

_I didn't know that she was _permanently _resting. _

_I shrugged and grabbed the key from under the doormat, using every ounce of my strength to wedge it into the difficult lock and turn it. After straining for a minute or two, the lock popped open, and I opened the door. _

_Walking inside as my usual routine, I turned on the lights, which were unusually off. Once again, I wasn't bothered, I just flipped the light on. I dropped my backpack by the umbrella stand and turned around, preparing to walk to the kitchen and grab myself a sandwich. _

_But what I saw made my jaw drop open. My mother _and _father were on the floor, spread out in a horrible way. Their arms and legs were awkwardly bent, and their eyes were staring open. They were covered in red, and it had soaked into the carpet. Mommy would be mad. She just had it cleaned. _

_There was a large knife, like the kind I sometimes saw Daddy cooking with, sticking in his chest, where he had shown me my heart was. I touched my own heart absently. Mommy's neck was snapped in the wrong direction, her eyes rolled back in her head. _

_To top it all off, my little sister, who was always running around the house, shrieking, was gone, missing completely. I was scared. She was small, with brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. My heart ached for her. _

_This was wrong. Mommy and Daddy were supposed to wake up and make me my sandwich, and Daddy wasn't supposed to be home yet. He was at the office until six o'clock. So why were they sleeping on the floor, with their eyes open? _

_I couldn't help it. Something about it was just so _wrong. _I screamed. '_

_End Flashback_

At last, after hours of waiting, the cell door opened again, and sooner than I had expected. My face fell as I saw Ari. He was the last one I wanted to talk to. "I brought you these," Ari said quietly, placing a change of clothes and a tray of food at my feet.

"Why are you here?" I asked, ignoring his little random act of kindness.

"I need to ask you a few questions," he said gruffly, all kindness leaking out of his voice, but I knew it was too good to be true. I sighed and looked away. I wasn't in the mood to answer any of his questions, but I had no choice. I didn't want him to beat me. It would crush me all over again.

He remained standing, looking away from me. "How many of you were there when you started out, when you left the glass city?"

"Four," I answered simply. In an instant, He was on me, his claws hooked around my throat, pinning me to the wall by my neck. "Liar," he hissed. I struggled against him, begging him to stop. The tears were streaming down my cheeks. A year ago, he had promised me he'd never hurt me again. But then, we had promised never to speak about it.

"Last time I checked, I only counted three. You, Ami and Umi. If one of you escaped, we'll kill her!" His grip on me tightened, and I was choking. I knew that Ari couldn't show love, and his personality was naturally gruff, but I would have thought he'd be different with me.

In that moment, I let go every hope I had that he would ever care for me. That time a year ago that we had spent together, when I had been captured for a week, it was over. He was back to his old self, the self that could care for no one. "You already have killed her!" I croaked at him. He released his hold on me. "What?"

"You ambushed us before we ever got here, and you killed her! We continued on without her, because Kimi would have wanted us to live. But don't remind me what you did, you _killer, _you _murderer_!" He recoiled as if he had been slapped, and I nearly smirked with satisfaction.

"Is that what I am in your eyes?" he hissed. I nodded once. I thought I heard him murmur something along the lines of, "I loved you", but it was probably wishful thinking. He left the room, closing the door with that same soft click.

Once again, I was alone. And yes, I had been in love with Ari, but as far as I was concerned, that was a long time ago. I hadn't told anyone, because if I had, they would have freaked out, not only because he was an Eraser, but because he was also technically seven years old. They'd think I was some sort of pervert/freak/pedophile person.

But I can explain.

Something that no one knew about Ari was that he had discovered that he was part _real _Eraser, that it was in his blood naturally. At the age of four, he was able to change his personality to that of an Eraser. And at the age of six, he changed from a six year old boy into a twenty year old man.

It happens to all Erasers – they all become twenty year old gorgeous men. And when Ari wasn't in his Eraser form – which he often was, because it worked well for protection and for threatening others-, he was the most drop-dead gorgeous man I'd ever seen.

He had shaggy brown hair that fell over his head and heck, soft dark eyes that could melt your soul, and soft, full lips. In his new human form, he could have been a supermodel. But for some reason, because his Eraser wasn't grafted into him, it was _natural, _he was a "patchy" Eraser, always half human, half Eraser when he morphed.

He was a perfect human, but an unnatural Eraser. He could never fit in with the humans because of what he was hiding –not that he'd ever had a chance- and he could never fit in with the Erasers because they all knew he was a human at heart.

Yet, being an Eraser had made him colder and more closed-off to the world. He had developed Eraser instincts, gruffness and bluntness, and could not easily love another person now that he lived like an Eraser, and had been around nothing but them for so long. He didn't even have his father, or his mother anymore.

But why would he need them, he was all grown up. But I didn't hate his Eraser form. I had loved it. It had made him different, different like me, to know that I wasn't the only one who was a little bit strange, who everyone looked on differently. And I could tell that he felt the same way.

And for some reason, even when he was in his Eraser form, I couldn't help but love him, and he was the most handsome guy I'd ever seen. A year ago, when I'd been spying on the School, I'd met him, and he hadn't turned me in.

He'd been kind to me, meeting me outside the School every day so that we could talk. And that's all we did. I never kissed him; Dr. Harrison called off my mission before I could. I went back one last time to say goodbye, and we hadn't spoken since.

Now, he was obviously a completely different person. So I would find a way to get over him, to forget him. It was the only way for me to get my life back.

**Max POV **

I hated waiting. I hated being this close to the 'war' and not knowing when it would happen, when they would just get it over with and attack. I'm sure I'm known the world over as the Mother Teresa of patience, but this was giving me a headache, and I was starting to snap at people.

Like today, for example. I woke up this morning, and I wasn't having my face clawed off by Erasers or caged in some sort of cell. That almost would have been better. It would have been over, and I wouldn't have had to deal with any of that patience crap.

As always, Airi had her turn looking after Fang for the longest, than Nudge went in and talked his ears off nonstop. As soon as it was my turn, she had skipped off, never to be seen again. Well, so far, anyway. But now I was stuck with Fang. And I gotta tell you, all he did was sleep, eat and watch TV.

"Fang, you're boring," I complained, not unlike a petulant child. He looked at me, clearly annoyed. He was watching some sort of ball game. I don't know why. They all looked the same to me.

"Sorry, I'll make a note to my side to _heal faster_," he said irritably. "Quit spazzing out," he ordered. "It can't be good for you, Max. I know they haven't showed up, but when they do, you'll be ready, and it'll be before you know it," he gave a rare smile, something that was normal for Airi but not specifically for me.

"This is just that irritating calm before the storm," I answered.

"So dramatic," he smirked, and I slapped him lightly, bedridden or not.

"Come on, didn't Dr. Harrison or whatever get you guys a gym-type thing?" He asked. "Just go distract yourself." My face fell a moment.

"It's my shift, remember?" I asked, "And anyway, I don't trust him. He's just too good to be true. He's been cool with everything, never once gotten angry at us, let us have everything we ever wanted. But it's just not right."

"Not this again!" he sat up. "Max, you've got to stop this. Sometime, you have to trust someone. I know you still don't completely trust Airi yet, and she risked her life to save you from your own sister! Dr. Harrison _has done nothing wrong_."

"What happened to you?" I snapped. "You used to agree with me, first of all, and you didn't used to be so freaking open and trusting to everyone that walked into the door! I remember when the flock was _just the flock_, and we always used to be together, not separated in this stupid glass city!"

"Do you _want _to kick Airi out of the flock, Max?" Fang's voice had become dangerously low, anger in his eyes. "Do you _want _to live in trees again? This is the way normal people live. And I will not give Airi up just because you're _homesick _for a shitty life."

And once again, even though we weren't together, I felt angry and betrayed. He was still my best friend, and I resented the crap out of the fact that he never defended _anyone _this way, no one but her. And once again, I was terribly homesick, not only for our old life, but for _him. _

"I…I have to go," I mumbled, rushing out of the room. I reminded myself that I didn't have time for love of any kind, and that I had rejected Iggy because of it. I also couldn't hurt anyone again because of being with Fang. It was too late for us, and I could never go back, no matter how much I still wanted to.

I also couldn't be with Iggy, no matter how much I needed to be with him. Because it turns out that Angel had been right; I didn't have time to balance both a guy and saving the world. I didn't speak to him anymore. But at least now Nudge could have what she always wanted.

"I still love you," I whispered, once I was halfway down the hall.

**Airi POV **

I was still hard at work with Nudge, Iggy and Gazzy in the weight room. So far, I was having success in some areas and defeats in others. Each flock member had a different area of expertise. Nudge was more graceful, Iggy was a tad bit stronger, and Gazzy was faster.

After all three of them failed at the whole bench-pressing thing, I slapped my forehead and pulled them over to the balance beam. "Please, please, _please _tell me you can at least do this right," I begged, pointing to it. Nudge squealed with glee, much to my relief, and hopped up there.

Being the flexible one, she did a good job, actually, she walked a few steps, then did a cartwheel, landing perfectly on her feet, then ran and did a couple flips, landing perfectly every time.

But when Iggy tried, he got up there, all cocky and confident, and promptly tried to do the same thing that Nudge did.

This would have worked, had he not landed with one leg on either side of the board, letting out an earsplitting scream and then falling off the board.

Let's just say that he was still lying there ten minutes later, making a good cushion for Gazzy when he tried the same thing.

Next, we moved on to the treadmills. I cranked every one of them as high up as it could go, then directed the three of them to hop on. With this, Gazzy had no difficulty with maintaining the proper speed and _not _running into the end of it.

Iggy, being Iggy, couldn't do anything right, and therefore, stepped casually onto it too soon and was therefore hurled back into the wall behind him, leaving a nice Iggy-sized dent in it –thank god this was the only room in the city with a _real _wall-. Once he peeled himself off, removed the plaster from his hair and climbed back on, he was too tall and gangly to really run properly, not to mention being blind. So he sort of veered off to the side of the treadmill, running into the side railing and knocking the whole thing over with him.

I watched in horror, waiting for Nudge, and she didn't appear to be any better.

First, to reverse the horrific incident of yesterday, she tried not to run so fast. But she really ended up "running" like a senior citizen. So there would have been a Nudge-sized dent in the wall next to Iggy's, if not for the window.

Naturally, it was right behind her, so she crashed through it. A few seconds later, she popped back up, clutching at her mouth. "My tooth!" she yelled, holding it up for me to see. "It's out of my mouth! Put it back! Put it _back_!"

I took a moment to wipe the Nudge-spit off my mouth. "It's just a baby tooth!" I yelled. "You're only eleven, after all."

"….Oh," she replied, then went back to the treadmill. I sighed before following her. Were we ever really going to be ready for this war?

**Okaywellhowwasthat. xD I just realized something - I picked a name for my OC, "Airi", that is very close to the word "Ari". And if they're both going to be in my story, then you all need reading glasses or something to spot that tiny little 'i'. Oh, well. I have pics on my profile of Airi, Emi, Umi and Ami for anyone who wants to see them. Pleasepleaseplease tell me if they come off as those badly-written Mary Sue's that lurk on this site -I don't mean for them to be!- Thanks for reading and leave a review! **

**~Rachel**


	14. Magnificent

**A/N - This is the longest chapter I've ever written, at about 8,500 words. Obviously, it's a very important chapter. I couldn't find a good way to break up the chapter, and I'm certainly not going to. If you have a problem with it or find it annoying, I'm sorry, you could always read part of it today and part tomorrow xD **

**Thank you to whoever reviews! ^^ **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 14**

**Airi POV **

"Troops!" I yelled, and glanced at the three young mutants standing in front of me. "Training you has been…well. You all officially suck at working out. But judging from the fact that you've managed to stay alive for this many years, you must be better at beating up an Eraser than you are at a punching bag, God help us." I was still yelling by the end of the rant.

"Therefore, you all are graduating Airi's little training academy. This is your imaginary diploma. Go forth and get ready for this war," I ordered. "Oh, except for you, Gazzy. I need you to go forth to the cafeteria and pick me up a sandwich." He scowled at me as they all filed out.

"Thank God," I collapsed on the floor. I had been up all night with them, which had been an accomplishment. They all had their own strengths, but I couldn't imagine why it was so hard for them to learn how to beat up a punching bag. It was also extremely dangerous for me – the Erasers could get here any time, and if I had gotten zero sleep, then what would happen to the rest of us?

We hoped to find out who was controlling the Erasers. If we could find that person, we would destroy them and our problem would be over. But if we couldn't, that meant that we'd have to keep looking, and there would be more Erasers chasing us. And I remembered something – all the Erasers had been retired earlier this year. So why were they chasing us now?

Someone was re-making the Erasers specifically to chase us. But they weren't the original Erasers. Someone who knew how to make the original Erasers was working hard to create them all in time.

I had to tell Max. Maybe she could draw some conclusions or something.

But I felt my eyes closing. I needed sleep. Maybe I'd talk to Max…tomorrow.

My eyes closed.

**Max POV **

Something inside told me that it wouldn't be much time. There would be a battle soon, I could feel it. It was too quiet now. But soon, we'd be fighting for our lives. And I didn't care. Because fighting took my mind off the problems, ironically. The problem of choosing between Fang and Iggy, and the problem of not trusting anyone around me anymore…

They would just disappear when I was fighting the Erasers. So I wanted them to get here. Sitting and waiting just wasn't my thing. And in this glass city, I was practically a sitting duck. I was useless as a flock leader, and I couldn't do anything about it. They needed a home, but I wanted things to be the same again.

Sometimes, you just have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen. I guess it's how dogs feel before volcanoes erupt, or how sometimes you can feel someone watching you. I just knew that if we stayed here too long, we'd regret it. Or maybe we wouldn't live to regret it.

Speaking of that delightful thought, the one person I ran into as I rounded the corner just _had _to be Dr. Harrison. I rolled my eyes. I so did not need to talk to him and his _fake _cheerfulness right now. I didn't trust him, that was for sure. And I didn't trust him to keep the flock safe.

But today, something was different. His smile was gone, and his eyes were glazed over. His hair was wild and tangled, like he had just gotten up, but from the bags under his eyes, I could tell that he had been up all night. Just like I had.

He looked older, more worn. He was obviously under a lot of stress, but I had learned that despite appearances, things weren't always what they seemed. So I didn't let my guard down. "Max, just the person I was looking for," he glanced out the window quickly. "Can I see you in my office?" I shrugged and gave a nod, which seemed to mildly irritate him.

As I walked down the hall, I got that feeling in the pit of my stomach like I always did when I could see into the rooms around me, seeing people going about their lives. I could see them, and everyone in the city could see me. I felt like I was being watched 24/7, and it wasn't just due to the fact that we _were _being monitored day and night so they could "study" us.

Occasionally, you would see a bathroom or a room with actual wallpaper, so that you didn't feel like you were being watched somewhere inappropriate. Sometimes, I would lock myself in the bathroom and just enjoy _not _being watched.

Dr. Harrison's office was one of these. I had been in there, sure, but now that I suspected him of…something…it was really more like a cave. The wallpaper was dark, and there were a few dark green chairs in front of a –wait for it- dark brown desk. I didn't really know what he needed an office for. It wasn't like he was a _real _doctor. He was a scientist.

"Max, sit down," he ordered, but I defiantly remained standing up. I thought I heard him mutter something like "Dear God not today," but I could have been wrong. When he saw that I really wasn't going to sit down, he continued. "Max…as you may have predicted, the girls that I hired to spy on the School were…captured."

"Duh," I picked something out of my nails. "What do you want me to do about it?"

He looked at me expectantly. When it finally dawned on me, I stamped my foot. "Oh, come on! I _told _you that they would get captured and you want _me _to go rescue them? That is so not fair!" he gave me a withering look. "Why do I have to do it?" I complained.

"Because you're the only one who can," he answered simply. My shoulders sagged and I nodded meekly. "You'll be going alone," he said apologetically. "The others have to stay here in case the Erasers come." I tried not to contain my fury. Not to put a damper on things, but the others couldn't do anything without me.

I opened the door, fully prepared to walk out and pack a small bag of supplies. After all, I didn't expect it to take long. I could fly at two hundred miles an hour if I wanted to, and the actual rescue wouldn't take long at all. After all, we had escaped the School _and _saved Airi only just recently.

"Max, bring them back quickly," he emphasized. "If you're going to have any hope of winning this war, you need them. They are trained fighters. But Ari is at the School, and he's gotten even stronger than Emi –the leader- and her companions, Ami and Umi.

"Original names much?"

"Just bring them back safely, or your chances are as good as gone," he said, closing the door behind me with a quiet click. The suspicious part of me grew even more wary of him from the way he said "your chances" instead of "our chances".

I snuck through the glass city, avoiding the flock wherever I saw them. I knew that I couldn't hide it from Angel, but the others would be oblivious and not have to either follow me or worry about me, just focus on the battle if it happened to come today. But fate wouldn't nearly be that cruel…I think.

In ten minutes, I had everything I needed, a pack with supplies and a bit of food. Sneaking quietly out of the city, I found that it was surprisingly easy. And the second that I was out the door, I launched myself into the air, going into hyperdrive before anyone _could _see me.

First of all, I knew that we were in the United States, but I had no idea where. The entire glass city was surrounded by miles and miles of desert, so we had to be somewhere with a desert. I was betting on California. And if we _were _in California, then getting to the School should be a piece of cake.

So, we bird-kids have an internal compass of sorts, which tells us exactly what direction we're going. Well, it doesn't really work like that. It's just instincts, that sort of thing. The same thing that makes birds fly south for the winter. Sometimes being two percent bird had its advantages. Like never having to shave – birds don't grow hair.

…How exactly did that explain Jeb's monopoly-guy mustache? Or the hair on our heads? I don't know. Maybe the heavens just decided to cut us a break. But really, it never made up for the fact that we had to deal with stuff like what I was dealing with right now. My hair whipped around my face roughly, and I could hardly breathe with how fast I was going.

It didn't really feel uncomfortable on my wings. I cut through the air like a knife, slim enough to go incredibly fast. And because I couldn't forget my way to the School even if I tried, I could get there incredibly fast. The entire way, I tried not to think about Iggy or Fang. But it was a lost cause.

When I saw the faint outline of that building, my heart almost soared as I let Fang and Iggy drift from my brain, and I swooped downward, stopping at the side of the building and hovering, desperately hoping I wouldn't be seen. I scaled the side of the building, my feet slipping on the cracks in between the bricks. I gripped the building harshly.

It was a slow work. But I couldn't just whip out my wings. There were people below me that wouldn't look up – not if I didn't make myself known. So I kept climbing, my fingers finally curling around the brick at the top. I pulled myself over the ledge quickly, lying flat on my back.

There were no guards patrolling the roof, which was unusual. I had the sickening thought that all the security would be placed protecting Emi, Ami and Umi. I quickly shook my head to get rid of the feeling. I crawled over to the center of the roof, which was quite a crawl, as the roof was simply huge.

Once I was there, at the edge of a particularly large skylight, I looked down timidly. There was no one in the large room that it was shining down on. It looked like some kind of lab. My blood boiled as I realized that this was probably the lab that they used for us, the lab where they mixed DNA and created mutants of all shapes and sizes.

The lights were off, and there was no one down there. I quickly calculated the possible outcomes. One, my dropping in could go unnoticed. Unlikely. Two, I would drop in and the alarms would sound, but it would take a while for security to get there. Possible. Three, I would drop in and then be immediately surrounded by security. Bingo.

I made a snap decision, because there was really no other way, and Dr. Harrison had emphasized that I needed to get this done as fast as I could, just in case the Erasers had already left for the glass city. So without further ado, I somersaulted forward and kicked my feet directly into the glass.

It crumbled beneath me, shattering almost instantly and giving in. I landed straight into the hole, dropping feet-first with the glass. I noticed one thing – it was a longer way down than I had originally thought. I tried not to cry out as I slammed into the ground, landing feet-first in a squatting position with my hand not far behind.

My hand came down on the broken glass harshly, the still-upright glass smashing awkwardly into my hand and drawing a jagged line of blood, which was quick to flow. I cursed at myself as the alarms went off, and I wiped the blood off my hand, clenching my fist tightly. I hurled myself across the room and into a huge closet, careful not to trail blood or glass in that direction. I shut the door just as I heard footsteps down the hall.

In a matter of seconds, I saw through the crack in the door the faint outlines of security rushing in, only to find me gone. There were several curses before a tired-looking Ari marched into the room. "Check the cameras, someone. Who was it?" He rubbed his head. "I have a feeling I know who," he muttered wearily, and I almost smiled with satisfaction.

But this was all wrong. Ari didn't have feelings. He was an uncaring, unfeeling Eraser with no regard whatsoever for human life. He didn't think before he acted or spoke, and he was as good as dead to me and the flock. I'd thought he died earlier this year, in Europe, but I was clearly wrong. They had put him back together.

"Great," Ari rolled his eyes as soon as he watched the tape that showed me breaking through the glass. I don't exactly think I looked as graceful as I had felt, plummeting thirty feet only to get my hand cut on the broken glass.

He walked across the room to the spot I'd fallen on. And all of a sudden, the same evil smile I was used to lit up his face. "Fresh blood," he picked up the piece of broken glass that had cut my hand and smelled it just like a dog. "She's here."

He grinned wickedly, looking around the room. "Come out and play, Max," he growled. And without warning, he stepped closer to my little broom closet. I cringed against the back of it, trying to hide myself behind the cleaning supplies. But he threw open the doors, and saw me, wide-eyed and defiant.

Lunging at me, I stepped nimbly to the side so that his face connected with where I'd been standing, smashing awkwardly into the wall. And I was running for my life. I whipped my wings out and jumped into the air, flying straight over the heads of the security guards and running down the hallway, with the sign that conveniently said "prison area". Yeah, that doesn't look illegal _at all. _

I pulled in my wings and ran on foot, down the long hallway. This was different than when I'd last been in the School. It appeared that they kept their prisoners in cells rather than cages now. They still kept their _experiments _in cages, however, but four years ago, even their human prisoners who had threatened to expose the School had been in cages.

I quickly looked in all the cells through the small window in the door. I was looking for teenage girls, not sure exactly what they looked like, as they had been wearing masks when I saw them. Originally, there had been four girls, but I assumed that one of them had tried to make a quick escape and been killed.

_Where are they? _My heart was pounding, and I could hear the clumsy mash of footsteps behind me as I tried to escape. They were chasing me, I was sure. To tell you the truth, I was ready for anything, hell, I was ready for spikes to come out the walls and toxic darts to pierce me in the neck.

But before I had a chance to see _anything, _any sign of the girls or where they were located, Ari appeared in front of me. And I saw that he had gotten taller, and he looked older, more ferocious, but he was still the same patchy Eraser. No surgery, no operation could ever fix that, no matter how many times they brought him back to life.

I barreled straight into him, but his hand caught my neck easily, his claws enclosing it and drawing the faintest amount of blood. Before I knew it, there were cuffs on my wrists, and I was tossed like a toy into the nearest jail cell. I whirled around. Someone else was in this cell – someone who looked just like an older version of me.

**Angel POV **

It had been hours. Max still wasn't back yet, and I was worried. No one could find Airi anywhere, and Fang still wasn't out of the hospital, although no one had really expected that. I could feel that the Erasers were coming, I could hear their voices in my head. I couldn't find anyone, and I was scared.

So I concentrated as hard as I ever had, holding my hands to my head. I sent out a message to the flock – _the Erasers are coming! Meet on the roof_! I prayed that it was heard, even if we only had Iggy, Gazzy and Nudge. This was bad. We were going to lose at this rate.

I ran through the halls of the glass city, looking everywhere. "Airi!" I hollered over and over again, searching the whole place. "Airi, the Erasers are coming!" I screamed. I was scared. I was confused. Why wasn't anything going right? I didn't want to die. "Airi, we need you!"

I knew that I should have been on the roof, giving the flock a pep talk like Max would do, but I just couldn't bring myself to tear myself away from Airi. We needed _anyone _and _everyone_. At the end of the hallway, I saw Total jumping up and down. Lately, I had almost forgotten about him., even though he slept at the foot of my bed every night.

Running right past him and ignoring him when he gave an indignant huff, I kept shouting. He ran after me, I could hear the pitter-patter of his feet on the floors. "I know where Airi is!" he barked at me. "Isn't she who you're looking for?" My head snapped around.

"Lead the way, wonder dog," I shook my head as he took the lead and started running. I ran after him, all the way down to Dr. Harrison's training room. I shook my head. I should have known. She had been training Iggy, Nudge and Gazzy all night, so it was only natural that she would be here.

"Over there!" he hollered, and I ran behind the punching bags to the corner of the room where Airi was slumped against the wall. Through the window, I could see the clouds of Erasers start to form, and I started to panic. "Airi!" I started to shake her. "Airi, wake up!"

She didn't budge, she was so exhausted. I saw the bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, and I knew that I had them, too. We'd all somehow known that today would be the day that the Erasers showed up. "Wake up, damn it!" I screamed in her ear.

Her eyes fluttered open, and the noise of the Erasers grew louder.

**Airi POV**

I woke up to Angel, screaming in my ears, tears of panic gathering in her eyes, and I could tell just from the howls and screams outside the window and echoing throughout the glass city that the Erasers were here. I jumped up, and relief washed through her face. I looked out the window, and hundreds of them were flying straight over our heads, hundreds more on the way.

I grabbed her hand and pulled her along with me. If we didn't have the proper weapons, I knew we were going to lose, and we had to move fast. Reading my mind, she jumped up and followed me down the hall and into my bathroom. I dug through the top shelf of the cabinet and grabbed three cans of hairspray.

She followed me through the glass city, noticing the Erasers above us. Nudge was holding her own, and Iggy was lashing out at everything around him, but Gazzy was going down fast. Finally, we got to where we were going – the staff lounge, where all the smoking adults hung out.

I ran to the drawer at the far end of the room, rummaging through it and finally grabbing three lighters. I grinned to myself as we ran out of the room, and ran up the stairs in the back of the glass city, up to the roof. And it was crazy up there.

Erasers were as thick as pea soup, flying all around. Nudge was taking several down with her agility, but she couldn't keep it up forever. I saw Iggy in the crowd, and he was actually doing fine for being blind. But again, it was Gazzy who was getting clobbered.

"Gazzy!" I hollered, and he looked up. In a second, I was by his side, punching the Eraser straight in the face. Once he spiraled off the roof, I handed him one of the lighters and a can of hairspray. "Homemade flamethrower," I explained. I wondered lightly about giving a flamethrower to an eight year old. "Just make sure you don't hit any _people _with that. He nodded, grinning.

I got out of the danger zone soon enough, and found myself dodging Erasers right and left. I kicked a few, punched a few, but mostly, I was dodging them, ducking under their punches, and even jumping over a few. I immediately picked Iggy out by his strawberry-blonde hair, and immediately expanded my mental force field to block the Erasers out.

Once we were safely inside it, I pressed a lighter and a can of hairspray into his hand. "I'm sure you know what these are for," I grinned. "But please, please, fly to the outside of the Erasers. I'll tell the others to stay away from you." And I was gone, above the cloud of Erasers.

I knew it wasn't exactly smart to give the blind guy a flamethrower, but it was the best we could go. Everywhere, I could see giant flames as Angel, Iggy and Gazzy used the makeshift flamethrowers on the Erasers. But there were still too many. We needed Max back. I didn't know where she'd gone, but now wasn't the time to be asking questions.

There were more than when we had first fought them here, by hundreds. And as powerful as we were, we couldn't do all this. We needed help, new plans. Just doing a force field took a lot of energy out of me, and I couldn't keep doing that forever and wasting my energy.

If Max didn't come back, we'd be dead meat, I knew that as well as anyone did, but we were trying not to think about that. And I prayed no Erasers would get into the city. I couldn't think about the fact that Fang was in there, and if one of the Erasers got him, he'd be toast.

Below me, the fight raged on. I took a deep breath before diving down on one of the Erasers, grabbing him by the arm and flinging him off the edge of the building where he landed on the ground with a sickening crunch. But once they stuff you into a shoebox and feed you next to nothing, you learn not to care.

But more were advancing on me, and I sure wasn't killing them with my little kicks and punches. They were almost on top of me, suffocating me. I got kneed in the stomach and punched in the face, but that barely hurt when I felt one claw rake down my arm. I screamed, and kicked him off the edge, where he joined the other.

I grabbed a piece of my shirt and ripped it off, tying it around my arm. I gritted my teeth and kept on fighting. I couldn't let my arm stiffen up, so I kept using it, which probably wasn't the best thing to do either.

They were in the sky now. Because these weren't just Erasers, these were the winged Erasers. "Up, Iggy!" I yelled just in time for him to move to the left, sending the Eraser that had dive-bombed him smashing straight into the roof. Luckily, the roof was only the thickest glass. Still, after this, it would look like hell.

I could see a dark red stain forming through the cloth at my arm, and I could feel myself losing too much blood – fast. The world started to spin, and even a force field required the strength that I just didn't have anymore. I was in a haze, and I fell.

But before I blacked out, I remember being caught by two strong arms.

**Max POV **

I backed against the concrete wall, looking curiously at the girl in front of me. She was probably a few years older, but she looked just as scared and confused as I probably did. But the fact that she wasn't in the same cell as me wasn't what bothered me. It was the fact that she looked just like me.

She had thick blonde hair that waved around her shoulders, just like mine. She stood like a leader, tall and with authority, even though this was the last place in the world that one would have dignity. I almost fell over from shock when I saw the wings, the same tawny color as mine. But it was her eyes that gave me a curious sense of déjà vu.

I had seen her before, but I hadn't seen her face. It was the eyes I remembered. "You're that ninja girl!" I pointed at her. Her face had been covered at the time, with only her eyes showing. I remembered that I didn't really like her. "You must be Emi." She nodded slowly.

"I…I feel like I know you from somewhere," she said curiously, rubbing her forehead.

"You do!" I repeated. "You were the one on the rooftop that had the _fake _wings. And those look very, very real! Dang, they must have found a way to make popsicle sticks and glitter more realistic." She rolled her eyes in annoyance.

"Not just that. I feel like I know you from…nevermind," she shook her head, then looked me in the eye. "Why did you come?" she asked angrily. "They need your help with all of the Erasers. They're not from here, you know. Someone else is making them."

"I know," I answered. "I came to rescue you girls. We don't have enough people to fight all those Erasers. We need your help to fight them." I shook my head. "But enough about that. I need answers. Like, I thought you didn't have real wings. So what the hell are those?"

She was silent for a moment. "What do you know about Dr. Harrison, Max?" I didn't bother to ask why she knew my name. I was sure her precious Dr. Harrison had told her.

"Not much," I answered. "I know he takes care of us and that he's pretty much the overlord of that stupid glass city."

She took a deep breath. "Max, there's something you need to know. Dr. Harrison lied to us about our wings. He gave us a vitamin every night to keep us from remembering, saying that it was for our health. He's a liar, using all of us. He's evil."

As much as I wanted to tell her that it was true, I just couldn't. Airi was right – I didn't trust people. I was still having trouble trusting Airi, and I absolutely didn't trust Emi, and _they _weren't the evil ones. So instead I said, "He's probably just doing it so you won't get hurt. He probably cares about you too much to tell you something so life-changing."

She gave me an exasperated look. "Fine, have it your way. But all I know is that if we don't get back to the glass city left, your friends _will _die. We have to get out of here. But we also have to get Ami and Umi. They're in the cells next to and across from me."

I nodded, about to reply that I was sure I could handle it, but the door flew open. In walked a man, about twenty years old. I had to pause to make sure I wasn't drooling. He was tall, dark and handsome, with thick brown hair, deep eyes and perfect skin. He was beautiful.

"Go away, Ari," Emi glared at the man. My mouth dropped open as I looked from him to her.

"Ari?" I asked, wide-eyed. He turned his attention to me. But it wasn't possible! This Ari was all human, although he had the same eyes and slightly pointed features. The Ari I knew was a crazed lunatic beast, not a gorgeous supermodel-ish type human.

"He likes to come in here in his human form to make things 'easier' for me. I'll tell you something _easier_, you bastard," she glared at him. "Let us out of here!" He rolled his eyes.

"You know I'm not the one ordering this."

"But you can fix it!"

"Not unless I want to _die_!" And he walked out as quickly as he came in.

My eyes lingered on the door for a moment when it slammed behind him. "What was that all about?" I asked, irritated.

"Oh, that was just to 'check on me'," she gave an indignant huff, not unlike how I usually did. "He usually does that ever few minutes now. He thinks I'll escape somehow, and he's probably right, the sick bastard," she growled, but moisture pooled in her eyes.

"Is there something going on with you two?" I asked suspiciously.

"No!" she answered too quickly, and turned around to pound her head against the wall. "Yes," she sighed when she turned back around. "Look, long story short, I was here last year to do a spying job –solo- for Dr. Harrison. Ari caught me but didn't turn me in. I saw him every day, fell in love and all that crap, and then I never saw him again. End of story."

"You…fell in love…with Ari?" I almost gagged. "I mean, um, I'm sure a nice normal person could…fall in love...with an Eraser…" I trailed off, grimacing slightly. She buried her head in her hands.

"I know, I know!" she exclaimed. "But you have to understand, he _wasn't _an Eraser. He was a human. You see, when you become an Eraser, you immediately turn into a twenty-year old _gorgeous _man –well, at least if you're a guy. And so I know Ari is really only seven years old, but _now _he's twenty years old."

"I don't understand."

"He's part _real _Eraser, so it's in his blood naturally. Seven was just the age that it all kicked in, and he turned into a twenty-year old man-Eraser. His human form is perfect, because both of his parents were mostly human –his mom was half Eraser- but his Eraser form is always patchy because of all the human in him."

"I get it. Like, when he was seven, he was just a walking time bomb that went off."

"…You could look at it that way. Anyway, when I met him, by all respects, he was four years older than me. And eventually, Erasers _do _age, just, you know, not for a few years. But anyway, it just didn't work out. I _just _met him again, and obviously he's the same jerk that he is to everyone else. So, no biggie."

"You still love him, don't you?" I asked skeptically.

"Yes," she sobbed, and promptly fell over and sobbed into my shoulder. When had I gotten so close…?

"Okay, okay," I said in my most compassionate voice while at the same time trying to push her off of me. I wiped the tears off her face with my thumbs and looked out the window in the door. No one was in the hallway, but of course, the door was locked from the outside.

"We need to get out of here!" I shook her shoulders. "Alright, I, being Maximum Ride, have a plan! The next time Ari comes through that door, you cover his mouth and I'll knock him unconscious! Then we grab his keys and run out of here like there's no tomorrow!" I probably had a crazed look in my eye.

"You're insane."

"What, a girl can't have a catch phrase?"

And we waited silently for him to come in. She looked like she was really in pain, both being back at the School and being back with Ari, even though I knew zero percent of what went on between them other than what she'd told me. I just couldn't see Ari loving anyone. I remember when he loved me –not like that-, but it was a long time ago.

What seemed like hours upon hours was really only a few minutes. Before long, the door burst open, and I grinned as I saw Ari in his vulnerable human form. "Now!" I yelled before he could register a thought, and leapt at him, with Emi in tow. She clamped her hands over his mouth tightly and pinched his nose as I punched him in the stomach. Hard.

We didn't have any time to spare. Emi knew exactly where his keys were, having watched him for all the time he came in and out of her cell. She grabbed them expertly off his belt loop, and we had all of three seconds before we ran out the door and slammed it behind us, locking it harshly. The weak punch that I had given him hadn't knocked him out, and he pounded against the glass of the door.

"Emi!" he roared, but he couldn't hurt us. The concrete door stayed firmly in place, but she flinched all the same. I was already going across the hall to the room across from hers, where I saw a girl with red hair slumped against the wall, sleeping. But before I went inside, I saw a tear slip down Emi's cheek. "I'm sorry," she kept mouthing over and over as Ari pounded against the door.

I opened the door to the room and ran inside. The redhead heard my footsteps and woke up, her eyes blinking rapidly as she looked up at me. "Ami, right?" I asked, and she nodded. "We're getting you out of here. I have Emi, but do you know where…uh…"

"Umi?" she cut in.

"Yeah, her. Do you know what room she's in?" She nodded and grabbed my hand wordlessly, leading me to the room to the left of Emi's. Ari was still pounding on the door, and Emi was really crying now. Ami didn't say anything as I unlocked the door, met face-to-face with a dark-haired tall girl. "Umi," I clarified. She nodded, too.

And when I looked back at Ari and Emi, his fists were pounding at the door, and a long crack broke out on the front of the door. Ari was going to break it down, cement and all. "Run!" I shouted, and grabbed Emi's hand, practically dragging her along. Ami and Umi were right behind me, running as fast as we could. No guards were in the hallway, but it was only a matter of time before Ari called them.

We broke out of the long hallway and into the main hallway of the School – but we were on the balcony of the second floor. The first floor was right below us, but the thing was, the guards had already been called. And there were about a hundred of them cornering us against the railing.

I grabbed Emi's hand and squeezed tightly. "On three," I whispered, hoping she could take a hint. I took a deep breath. "One," I said, and flung myself off the railing, yanking Ami off with me. The others followed suit, and bullets flew past us, not hitting us. I zigzagged to the right, to the left, up and down, trying to avoid them. The doors were twenty feet…ten feet…

One of the bullets actually flew past us and hit the handicapped button that opened the door, and they flew open for us. In five seconds, we were outside, in the open air and speeding away from the School. "Thank you," Emi whispered. I didn't know if she was lying or telling the truth.

"We need to go back to the glass city," I said. "The Erasers are already there."

"Who are you?" Ami poked me curiously. "You look just like Emi.

"That's Max," Emi said in a bored tone of voice.

"Nice to meet you," Ami said, practically hugging me in midair. Umi didn't say anything, flying next to me but far away at the same time. I hadn't heard her talk once.

Was it just me, or did they resemble my own flock?

**Airi POV **

My brain was a haze. I wanted to lift my head and open my eyes, but the pain in my arm was too much. I remembered losing a lot of blood before I blacked out, and now it was stiff. I then decided that it was my arm that was scratched, not my eyelids, so I opened one eye to see Fang holding me.

But he wasn't just holding me. He was holding me while punching out Erasers and trying not to fall over from the pain in his side. And he was still managing to kick serious Eraser ass. Without warning, I sprang out of his arms and onto the roof, and he gave me a small smile of gratitude.

I left him, he appeared to be holding his own for a while. I made my way over to Nudge, who was fighting the crowd as best she could. Max had now been gone for about two hours. We had already killed or fatally wounded hundreds, but hundreds more were swarming us. The flamethrowers had worn off long ago.

I still wasn't strong enough to use my force field. It was useless if I couldn't fight, so I fought on my own like the rest did. So I stood back-to-back with Nudge, kicking and punching and swinging her around against the Erasers until my arm felt like it was going to break off, and even then, I kept fighting.

Several times, I wanted to give up, thinking that it wasn't worth it anymore. I'd thought that this would be the end. I had fought so hard in my life, and I knew that I'd be as pathetic as one of the Erasers, or worse, to be killed now, but I was tired, and all alone. Fang was losing badly, Gazzy wasn't strong enough, and all Iggy's blind rage was tiring him out.

Nudge and I were the only ones holding our own, but her ankle had been hurt badly, and there was the matter of my arm. We were totally helpless, fighting for our lives, when they could kill us any time they wanted to. Not to say that they weren't trying, of course.

At that point, what I was thinking was, _God, what I wouldn't give for a baseball bat. _

A while ago, Total had gotten in the mix, snapping at Erasers' ankles and causing them to trip, falling off the edge of the building. He probably hadn't killed a single one, but at least he was helping to thin out the crowd.

Suddenly, a clawed fist snapped out, lashing across my face. I fell back into Nudge and crashed down on the roof, but he picked me back up by my shirt and threw me over the edge of the building. It was lucky I had landed on a pile of Erasers, but I was far from alright. The pain in my body overwhelmed me, and I groaned.

Tears streaked my cheeks and blurred my vision as I hid against the side of the building, behind some other Erasers, and I noticed the same Eraser looking around for me. He looked down, and grinned when he saw me, and it killed me that I wasn't helping the flock, but sitting in a pile of Erasers, ready to die.

That is, until something slammed into the Eraser. But it wasn't a something – it was a someone. Max was back.

**Angel POV **

I saw Max fly through the air, flanked by three other girls, all older than she was and all with murderous glares on their faces as they slammed into the Erasers, smashing heads and punching furry faces. In seconds, Erasers were flying through the air. And when I say flying, I mean being hurled by super-strong ninja girls with _real _wings.

Expertly landing on the Eraser that had been attacking Airi, Max hurled him off the side of the glass city as the other girls sliced through the air, picking out the weaklings and tossing them off.

A redhead landed behind me, sending me a grin before she kicked an Eraser away from me. We stood back to back, even though she was easily two feet taller. I saw a tall, dark-haired girl come to Fang's side, quickly killing the Eraser that he'd been battling with. She had the same hair, the same dark wings. He looked at her in wonder.

Max and the older blonde girl looked at each other and nodded, and Max took a running start –it was a miracle that she could, with the roof so full of Erasers- and threw her hands up on the blonde girl's back, doing a perfect flip over her, arching and finally bringing her feet down on an Eraser, punching him until he was unconscious.

Once again, I kept having the feeling that someone else was involved with this, that someone was controlling the Erasers. I kept hearing jumbled thoughts, different from the Erasers. Horrible, maniacal thoughts. _Kill the flock_ and all that jazz. I made my way over to Max, and looked up at her in the middle of the 'battlefield'.

_I know someone is controlling the Erasers, _I thought hard at her. _I have to find out who it is. _

_Angel, it's too dangerous! _

_Max, I have to. I've been so horrible to you. I can at least do this, _I thought sadly, and with that, I was off. I felt so guilty about breaking up her and Iggy's love, but I couldn't do anything about it now. Instead, I'd find out just who was running this show.

I swooped down, looking both ways before opening and shutting the front doors quickly. As soon as I got inside, I heard that same maniacal voice in my head, the one that kept whispering those crazy, deranged things. I got closer to it as I made my way down to the basement of the glass city, where it was dark.

And suddenly, I was afraid, and it was just me, alone with all those deranged thoughts. And I wanted Max to come and save me, wishing I'd taken her advice, but I was all alone now. Suddenly, two arms shot around me and held me in a choke hold. I pounded my fists furiously against whoever it was. "Let me go!"

The lights were flicked on, and I looked up to see Dr. Harrison, and all the thoughts were coming from _him_. He released me, and I fell back with him towering over me. "Dr. Harrison?" I asked, trying not to sound as afraid as I felt. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because," he sneered. "I'm not from the School – I'm your real enemy. I lured you into the glass city through a colleague of Max's mother's, and now you're doomed to die. But I can't just let you get away unscathed, you know. You might go tell Max, and we don't want that," he grinned a blood-chilling grin.

He grabbed me by my shirt collar and hoisted me up. "Listen. If you tell Max about any of this, your wings disappear. That machine over there," he pointed behind him, "will take your wings away." And to prove his point, he snapped his fingers, and my wings disappeared. Before I could protest, he snapped again, and they were back.

"But if you don't tell, you'll die. Think about it. Live without wings forever, or live without the flock forever? Remember, you'll just die anyway," he laughed. "I have an entire army of Erasers at my command. Now, I'll let you think about it. Go. Shoo." He laughed one last laugh, and then disappeared.

Up above, I heard a loud thump. All the Erasers had been deactivated.

**Max POV **

The Erasers were too many, even with Ami, Emi and Umi to help us. I was glad that they had tried to come to our rescue, but it looked like this would be the end for us. And I didn't want to die. I'd fight until the end, but even I knew when enough was enough, and we were definitely in deep shit.

But when I looked across the 'battlefield' and saw an Eraser push Iggy off the edge of the glass city, I screamed. In that moment, I realized that I had to let Fang go, because I loved Iggy. It would always be him, and I'd never let him go again. I'd made an incredible mistake.

I now saw that Iggy was the one for me, he had always been the one for me. Fang and I hadn't been right together, but I loved Iggy more than anything, now and forever. I lunged off the side of the building just in time to catch him in midair. "Max?" he asked, breathless.

I nodded. I lifted his hand to my head so he knew. And I pressed my mouth against his.

**Emi POV **

There we were, fighting for our lives, and I thought it would be the last one I ever fought. This would be the last thing I ever did. And strangely, I didn't care. Because nothing mattered more in the world to me than destroying every single one of those furry pests that looked like and reminded me of Ari.

But they weren't him. They just weren't him, yet I was seeing his face on every one. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shape speeding toward us, but I ignored it. It was probably just another Eraser, late for the party. But it wasn't. I snapped around, and I saw Ari, landing on the roof behind me.

He immediately began punching, kicking and clawing every Eraser he could get his hands on. And before I knew it, he was fighting alongside me. I knew what was coming, but I didn't want to talk to him. I never wanted to see him again, yet here he was, and for some reason, I was almost happy.

"I need to talk to you," he growled between punches, morphing back into his human form. "You are the most stubborn, obnoxious, bossy, bratty human I've ever met!" he said angrily.

"Gee, thanks, I feel the love," I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as I kneed the Eraser in front of me, hard.

"But I love you," he grabbed my hand, and it was like we were invisible to the rest of the world. "I'm sorry I acted horribly to you, Emi. I just thought that if I made you hate me, you'd forget me. But I don't want you to." And I wanted horribly to give in.

"No," I replied instead. "I can't…I don't want…I don't want this." And I broke free of his hand, intent on making myself forget him even more by killing a few Erasers. But at that exact moment, all of them, ever single on, dropped to the ground where they were standing, deactivated.

**Airi POV **

The damage was great after that. Angel looked like she'd been through hell, and the others were all going to need medical help. The glass city would need a new layer of glass and a whole lot of construction, and all the Erasers would have to be burned as soon as possible.

Dr. Harrison congratulated us and reassured us that everything was going to be fine. But for some reason, when his eyes lingered on Angel, she looked at her toes uncomfortably, guiltily.

It was decided that the new girls would stay, and live in the glass city with us. Dr. Harrison predicted that the Erasers would undoubtedly not be back, but even I doubted that. I knew that they would always be back, unless we killed whoever was controlling them.

I almost growled when Ari stood up and announced that he loved Emi, and that he would be staying. Fang mirrored my look of hate, his eyes lingering to his side, and Ari's eyes met his. "The past is in the past," he said, "But I'm sorry for anything that I did. _To all of you. _I don't expect you to forgive me now. One day you will."

"I will _never _forgive you, you heartless bastard-" Fang and Emi both said at the same time, then looked down.

"He's staying," Max surprised us by saying, grabbing his hand, with Iggy's in her other. "He helped us, and he proved that he wasn't a traitor." She looked at Emi when she said this. "I know he's done terrible things to all of us, and there's a time to forgive and forget. It doesn't have to be now, but he's staying."

She looked at all of us. "You _will _treat him well."

Surprisingly, Ari looked like he had actually grown up. He was older than any of us, old enough to make Fang look like a child and certainly old enough to be wise. He was trying, he really was. I didn't want to forgive him for starving me, beating me and imprisoning me, but he had actually joined us.

"In that case, I'm afraid I have one more thing to say," he grinned, his fangs glinting. "I hate to put a damper on things, but there's something that I have to tell you." He jumped up onto the long table that we'd been sitting in front of, faced the front, and looked straight at Dr. Harrison.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this man is a lying son of a bitch!" he shouted, and a look of pure and unbridled rage crossed Dr. Harrison's face, but Ari didn't seem to mind. "He's lied to you all and endangered your lives, _not to mention _sending all the Erasers after you. He's a lying bastard, a fraud!"

**Did you make it out alive? xD Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a review! I'll have pics of Emi, Ami and Umi on my profile -along with one of Ari in his human form-. This took me, like, days to write D: **

**Thank youu~~!**

**~Rachel**


	15. Morose

**A/N - After the last chapter and how long it was, I really never want to do another chapter that long again. Because it was pure hell. D: But now I'm back! And seriously, this chapter isn't nearly so full of angst and stuff. **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 15**

**Max POV **

The room was deathly quiet as Dr. Harrison glared up at Ari, who was still standing in the center of the table. "You don't want to go making false accusations," he said in a sickly smooth voice. "After all, I'm all the flock has. They've made their home here. Are they honestly supposed to trust you, who have lied to and captured them countless times?"

"I don't lie," Ari shook his head. "I didn't come _back from the dead _to lie to them. The _sole reason _I'm here is to make sure they know that you're the one behind this." He turned to us. "And you don't know. He's fooled you into thinking that this is your perfect little fantasy world."

I bit my lip. "I don't understand," I heard Airi's voice behind me. She looked up at Ari in disbelief. "Dr. Harrison wouldn't lie. He's given us a home and food to eat, and been a friend to us when no one else was. What you're saying now…is this true?"

He almost smiled. "You want to believe it, don't you? You want to believe that someone else loves you unconditionally. You want to belong." He was behind her, his velvety smooth voice in her ear now. She shivered. Now that he could become human, and a twenty-year-old _hot _human, he could have charmed anyone.

"But you're wrong," he continued, walking around the table leisurely, something I'm sure was driving Dr. Harrison crazy. "Everyone wants to get you, everyone wants their hands on you, they all want to be able to claim you as theirs so that _they _can get the glory, or bring you down, and he's no different."

Everything he was saying was true. "I'm sure you've met a handful of people in your life who were kind to you. Dr. Martinez and Ella, maybe, and that's been it. The thing is, the world doesn't work that way. Everywhere you go, people are going to chase you. You thought he was different, but he trapped you."

He looked at Emi sadly. "You know now that he's been lying to you, lying about your wings. You thought he could be your father, but he lied to you. And it devastated you." His hands clenched into fists. "But what you didn't know was that I knew, even back then."

"You knew?" she looked up at him. "Why didn't you tell me? Did you honestly want me to suffer so much pain? Did I mean that little to you?" she snarled, tears springing into her eyes.

"What was I supposed to do?" he asked ruefully. "Take you away from everything that you were clinging to, and destroy your life back then? I should have told you. But I cared about you too much."

He turned back to us. "All the time you've been here, you've been lied to. No one suspected it, though. Ironically, the one you all told to be more trusting was the one who figured it out. Max, you knew it from the start. He's been planning to slowly get you attached to him, and then he'll betray you."

"I was right?" I asked in disbelief. "I was right!" I pumped my fist in the air.

"That's a hollow victory," he grinned. "So here's the deal." He looked to Dr. Harrison, who had been slowly sneaking out of the room. He moved his finger just the slightest bit, and the doors and windows slammed closed. The floor melted and then re-hardened around his feet, trapping him where he stood.

"The doc here's been planning this from the moment he met your mother through a friend of a friend. He has a plan that involves a machine taking your wings away and rendering you helpless. He'll then gather your powers together, mold them into a pill, then swallow the pill. Pretty basic plan for world domination, but nevertheless, that's his plan."

"It's true!" Angel jumped up. "He trapped me in the basement and threatened me, saying that if I told anyone, I'd get my wings taken away! But he doesn't have the machine right now, and I know where it is!"

"And how do you have this information?" Dr. Harrison sneered, his fist snapping out and aiming for Ari, but he dodged it nimbly.

Ari smirked. "The School's been keeping tabs on you. You all thought we were evil, when _we're the good guys_, as I mentioned to Max about six months ago." I knew what he was saying was the truth. I had forgotten, but I could still hear his "_we're the good guys!_" in my memory.

And just then, he was thrown back against the wall behind him with a force so powerful that I felt the ripple of energy, and sank to the floor. His eyes fluttered open, murder on his face. Airi was standing behind me with her arm out, and I could see the multicolored force field surrounding her.

"You bastard," she spat. "If you're not lying, and you really are on our side, why the hell has the School captured and experimented on us? Why did you beat me? Why did you starve me? Why?" Tears were coming out her eyes. Fang squeezed her hand tightly. She really was a sensitive soul.

"Ah, my favorite question," the hostile look disappeared from his face. He had seriously scared me. I mean, the lethal look in his eyes made the Grim Reaper as scary as a bowl of soup. "Sorry about that, by the way. But you see, we couldn't just let you figure it out, that we were on the flock's side."

"Elaborate," she growled, the force field expanding a good three feet for good measure.

"Okay, okay," he chuckled. "Well, this plan started back before you were born. And I happen to know this because I work for the School, of course. We had to have defenders of the world, a few people to protect it, should anything happen. We needed people who could save us when we needed them."

Gazzy got out of his seat slowly, but Ari didn't seem to notice. "So we created all of you. It was horrible, but it had to be done. We stole a normal life from you, gave you wings and powers that would develop over time. We only created a few of you each year. By the time we got to Gazzy and Angel, we were nearing the end."

"The point," Airi shot him a withering look.

"Right, right, well, he's not going anywhere," Ari chuckled, but was silenced by a death glare from Dr. Harrison. "Anyway, we couldn't let you know that we were on your side, because no one else could know, and _that one _is a chatterbox." He shot Nudge a dark look. "There were a few mistakes, however, like Iggy's eyes."

"Yeah, thanks for that," Iggy said dryly, waving his fingers in front of his sightless eyes.

"But, um, we're good now, right?" He chuckled slightly.

"Bite me," Iggy scowled.

"Look, I'm sorry for what happened to all of you, I am," I looked at us earnestly. "All of you," he said, looking at Emi. Give me a break. Was this speech all for her? "But whatever happened in the past, it was to make you stronger, and prepare you for the future, to give you the strength to fight idiots like him."

At some point in the speech, Gazzy had slowly tiptoed around Ari to stand behind him, making faces and certain hand gestures that I will promise you he'll never repeat. We tried to stifle our giggles, but it was no use. I guess being a crazy half-wolf half-human hybrid gave you super senses.

That, and Airi burst out laughing when Gazzy pretended to kick his ass behind his back. Ari snapped around and glared at Gazzy, who turned a pale shade of white. "You know, this might just be a hand, but I can still kill you with it," he glared. Gazzy pointedly ran away. "Come here, you little squirt!" Ari growled as he chased him around the table.

"Um, hello?" I screeched, eyeing the door and just who was escaping out of it. They skidded to a stop. "I hate to put a damper on things, but he's freaking getting away!" I stood up. "Fang, Ari, Emi, Airi, come with me. The rest of you, stay here." They glared at me, but I didn't have time to worry about that. The five of us ran out of the room.

**Airi POV **

I ran down the hall with Fang, Max, Emi and Ari. Emi and Ari weren't looking at each other, and I knew that there was definitely still some tension there. Max and Fang appeared to be back to normal. At the end of the hall, we could see Dr. Harrison. But we could run faster than he could. The doors flew open, and he ran out into the bright sunlight.

We burst out of the doors three seconds after he did. My heart was hammering in my chest, and I couldn't help but feel worry for Fang. It probably would have been a good idea to have Angel come with us, but I guess Max wanted to keep the younger kids out of it for once.

Emi whipped out her wings at the same time Max, Fang and I did, and we hovered above him, trapping him. But Ari did something truly remarkable. He jumped into the air and flipped up, hovering slightly. "Transformation : Unlock!" he shouted, and light burst out from everywhere on his body.

He was glowing, brighter than the sun. I averted my eyes quickly, not really wanting to become like Iggy. And just like that, it was gone, and he leapt into the air, perching on the roof of the glass city easily. The burning of the Erasers was going on below, I noted.

Ari had changed. He wasn't completely a human, but he was definitely not an Eraser. His fingernails had grown into six-inch claws that could slice anything to bits. His face had grown longer, his eyes darker and his hair shaggier. His fangs had grown so that they were like that of a dog.

We all dropped to the ground. "New catch phrase?" I asked him, remembering what he'd shouted out not thirty seconds ago. "Last time I heard you talk to me, it was something like, "Rot in hell, bitch," I snarled bitterly.

"I didn't mean that!" he growled as he lunged for Dr. Harrison, who stepped lightly to the side, sending Ari barreling into the dust. He jumped back into the air, hovering for an uncanny amount of time next to me. "You know I had to lie!"

I expanded my force field rapidly from the small ball I had formed around me to snap out, hitting Dr. Harrison squarely in the nose and sending him flying back into the sand. "It didn't seem like it," I said bitterly. "That's no excuse for starving me, beating me and acting horrible to me for all those years."

I saw Max on the ground with him, grabbing his arm and swinging him around, sending him flying ten feet away to land in the sand yet again. She was trying to wear him out so that he couldn't escape, and he'd just give up.

"I'm sorry about that!" he exclaimed. "My job isn't always easy, alright? But it was something I had to do. I really was trying to help you, and I have, now that you know he's evil. I know that doesn't excuse my behavior. But I can't change the past. I can't go back. I'm asking for forgiveness now."

I raised an eyebrow. It would appear that Fang, Max and Emi were taking care of everything. He stared at Emi from where she stood, fighting on the ground. "Sometimes, you make mistakes. And you hurt people. You can't always go back. But you always have to try. If there's a chance that you can get your life back." He looked away.

"I know she'll forgive you someday," I looked at him. "Just do your best and show her you really care about her, okay?" I smiled. "You can absolutely do it if you try!" And he caught me in a hug, right there in the air.

"You're great, kid," he ruffled my hair. Hey, since when was I a kid! I was very grown up for a thirteen year old. I glared up at him.

"Ack, you're-crushing-my-spleen," I groaned. Why did I always have to be so nice? I just like making people happy.

My attention shifted as a breeze picked up, and Ari and I were blown farther away from the rest of the flock. I looked up to see an overly large helicopter preparing to land right next to the glass city. But wait…it wasn't landing. It was hovering in the air.

We were next to useless in the air, blown back by the gusts of wind that the helicopter created. The noise was deafening, but nothing compared to a thousand Erasers coming to kill us. I folded my wings in and fell to the ground, and Ari was right behind me. I landed and ran up between Max and Fang, who were staring up at it.

Maybe one of us should have been more focused on Dr. Harrison. Our gaping at the helicopter had given him a chance to pull out a grappling hook –oh, right, like everyone just magically has a grappling hook they can pull out of their pocket, I have one, too- and shoot it onto the helicopter.

He was pulled up almost instantly, and the helicopter turned around, preparing to leave. "Go, go, go! Get up there!" Max shouted, and I took off again. I expanded a force field out, hitting the helicopter on the sight and sending it reeling. It recovered quickly, and picked up speed.

Soon, we were struggling to keep up with it. I didn't even know they could go this fast. Finally, I fell back. "Go, Max! Catch up to it! You're the only one who can!" Fang shouted. And she became just a blur as she went faster than the helicopter, and busted in the door.

We were flying after her, and I saw her throw one of the people in the helicopter out to land with a crunch on the ground below us. She was fighting with two of the others. I couldn't see Dr. Harrison. He was probably hiding somewhere in there. Suddenly, one of the people poked their head out of the helicopter.

They fired something at us. I couldn't tell what they were until after they'd already hit Emi, Ari and Fang, but I saw them, then. They were sleeping darts. My head felt hazy, and my vision was going. I desperately snapped my eyes open as I flew toward the ground. When I was about ten feet away, I blacked out.

**Angel POV **

We looked out the window bitterly as the helicopter sped away, and the others dropped to the ground. I understood why Max hadn't wanted us to come, I mean, she probably wanted to get something accomplished without worrying about us. But it's true that it wasn't the smartest thing. We would have been able to help.

"He escaped," Emi's redhead friend pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her wings around herself. I could hear her thoughts. She was fairly easy to read, I didn't have to try so hard to read her mind, for some reason. It was like reading Gazzy's mind. _No, no, no! He can't have escaped. He'll come back and kill us! He already murdered my parents…_

"I knew he would," the quiet older dark-haired girl commented as she stared out the window blankly.

"Of course you did," the redhead scowled. She looked up to find the rest of the flock staring at her curiously. "Oh, that's right, you don't know us. I'm Ami and that's Umi. And she can see things before they happen." She went back to sulking back inside her wings.

Our heads swiveled toward Umi. We stared at her, expecting her to say something. But she didn't. She had the same stare that Fang did, never changing. But after five minutes of us staring at her, she started to crack. "What the hell am I, a zoo animal?" she glared.

Ami pushed her and got up. "Forget her. She's just moody because she's just been captured and starved for days. We have to get the flock unless you want their faces to melt onto the sand." And she pushed past me and out into the sunlight. The flock was slow to follow her.

For some reason, I knew that I could trust them. Maybe it was the fact that they had been lied to just like we'd been, maybe it was because they had wings and powers, just like we did. Maybe it was because Max trusted them. But something about them made me feel like they were safe.

But it was strange. Umi reminded me of Fang, and when I looked at Ami, it seemed curiously like déjà vu.

**Max POV **

I closed my eyes and snuggled into whatever surface I was lying on. I was tired as hell, and I blamed the stupid glass city for letting the sunlight leak in every day. But then I remembered the helicopter, and nothing but falling. I felt the ache in my body, and I opened my eyes. I was in the center of the room with the table, but the table itself had been pushed against the back wall. The rest of the flock sat all around me.

I noticed that I wasn't the only one. Airi, Fang, Emi and Ari were also in the center of the room with me, all rubbing their heads, stretching or massaging their various hurt body parts. I tried to stand, but fell over again. My head was swimming. "You're too dizzy," Ari groaned. "They shot sleeping darts at us."

"Does that mean he's escaped?" Airi asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes. Ari nodded solemnly and she buried her head in her hands. "So this was all for nothing. He's just going to send more Erasers after us, and he'll know exactly where to find us!" she wailed helplessly.

"But we have one advantage," Ari pointed out. "He didn't take that machine that that one-" he jabbed a finger at Angel, "was talking about. He can't take away your wings. This was his lair, and he had to leave suddenly. I'm pretty sure he left some plan or some clues here somewhere. I'll be searching around."

He sighed. "In the meantime, we'll all be staying right here. This is a good shelter. It's not as if we can't fight the Erasers again right here. We don't have to run. Emi, Ami, Umi and I will give your space. But you need our help if you're going to beat them." Fang looked pointedly away. I remember how pissed off he'd been when we'd split up and I'd gone with Ari. This must have been hell for him.

Iggy squeezed my hand gently, knowing what I was thinking. Ari looked at the ground, and I saw something in his gaze…guilt? Secrecy? My eyes narrowed. "Spill it," I ordered. "Whatever you're hiding from us, I want to hear it now."

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?"

"Don't play stupid, it just pisses me off," I snarled. He rolled his eyes. "Fine. But you asked for it. I have one more piece of information for you all."

"You're secretly a lesbian who had a sex change?" Iggy asked sweetly. Ari growled.

"No." He took a deep breath. "See, when the School made all of you, they didn't just use different people all the way around. For some of you," he glanced at Nudge, "They obviously did. But for a lot of you, you were taken from families where you also had siblings that were abducted with you, that you never knew about."

"Explain, now." I gave him an icy glare.

"You all are a lot more alike than you thought. Max, you and Emi are sisters. Emi remembers, but you were too young. The same goes for Fang and Umi, and Ami, Gazzy and Angel."

Chaos erupted. In seconds I was at his throat. "What do you mean, she's my sister? Jeb never told me that! That means that you and Emi are half brother and sister! You pig!" I screeched.

"No, it doesn't," he explained. "Jeb isn't your father. He thinks he is, but your mom married him right after she split up with your _real _father, who happens to be dead now," he explained. "You were both taken when you were younger. You were taken first, and when Emi got home from School, she was taken then."

"I have a sister?" Fang's eyes widened so much that I thought they would pop out of his skull. He cast a sideways glance at Umi, who flashed him an evil smile and waved at him. He shrieked. "Hi, Lucas," her eyes glinted mischievously. "That was your name, you know."

Ami looked at Gazzy and Angel. "Whoah…it's you guys. Did you know that he used to be a redhead like me?" she asked curiously. "We're going to be best friends!" she squished them in a hug. "Suffocating…" Gazzy trailed off, choking.

"Your mothers and fathers all donated to the School, so Dr. Harrison killed them," Ari explained. Ami, Emi and Umi all walked into their houses after School, in Los Angeles, Detroit and Miami to find their parents on the floor either strangled, shot or stabbed to death."

"Who lived in Miami?" Ami asked curiously. "Was it me? I bet it was me."

"Who cares?" I shouted. "Ari, that's impossible. I saw my mom like two months ago. Unless that was some robot in disguise, that didn't happen!"

"Your mom was sick and you were in foster care at the time," he said simply. "It was your foster parents who got murdered. When the police were looking for suspects, they actually considered Dr. Martinez, because she was your real parent and they thought she might kill to get you back."

"Know-it-all," I muttered under my breath.

"I feel so left out of all this sibling-y bonding time!" Nudge cried dramatically, and flopped over onto the floor.

"This is hardly bonding time," Emi stood up, and everyone fell silent. "And I don't want to be a part of any of this. We don't know you guys anymore. And we're trying to forget that part of our lives. Can't you just leave us alone?" she shouted, and ran from the room.

I followed her out, and found her sitting on the roof of the glass city with her legs dangling off the side. "Leave me alone," she said without looking up. I sat down next to her anyway.

"Look, it's not that I don't like you. I mean, you saved our butts back at the School, whether Ari was planning it or not. But so much has happened in the last few days…it's too much for anyone to handle. It almost broke Ami, and even Umi's never been so silent. And I don't want to fight anymore."

I nodded. "But this is your life. This is who you are, whether you like it or not. I understand, but you can't just give up when things get hard. Trust me, I've tried it! And it doesn't exactly do the job."

"This…this is strange," she admitted. "You're not…how you were. You aren't five years old anymore. Things are different now. I feel like I don't know you, or anyone around me. And I'm so confused." She hung her head. "I'm not even sure who I am anymore."

"Neither am I," I shook my head. "Neither are they. But we're all going to find out together. I promise."

**Thanks for reading! By the way, new story is UP! It's called _The Other Side _and it's Fang/Ella. I thought I'd try something new. ^^ **

**R&R! **

**~Rachel**


	16. Melancholy

**A/N - Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I worked for what felt like forever, because I had such a writer's block for this one. D: It's a little bit shorter than the other chapters. **

**I'm Her for You **

**Chapter 16**

**Airi POV **

I winced again as Ari brought the heavy rock down onto the machine in front of us. So this was the machine that Angel claimed could take away our wings. It didn't look like much, but Angel didn't lie, so it must have been dangerous. Naturally, it had to be destroyed before Dr. Harrison came back for it. And we had to face it; he could be back any day now.

"Why do I have to be down here with you?" I asked nervously as I looked around the basement. It was dark, and spider webs lurked in the shadows. A thick layer of dust coated everything. It looked deserted. It looked broken. It reminded me of the School. And so did he.

What bothered me about the School wasn't the antiseptic smell. That used to be it. But when the flock left, everything stopped. They remembered the antiseptic smell the most, the hustle and bustle of the School at its best, with the horrible experiments and the noise of it all. But when they left, everything changed.

Instead of conducting experiments, the School started to put all their efforts into hunting down the flock. All of the old experiments were left to die, only being fed occasionally. The weak ones were all eventually wiped out. But I was strong, so I lived.

For years, I lived in that empty room, with death all around me. Rotting experiments in the cages next to me, darkness all around me, and absolutely no shelter. I was scared at first. At ten years old, a normal child would have had trouble sleeping after watching a scary movie. But I was _living _a scary movie.

I never forgot how to speak. I made sure to practice talking regularly. When I got water, every week or so, my voice revived itself, and I sang for a while. The entire warehouse was filled with my singing. I waited for someone to help me, thinking the flock was still out there, and that they would help me. But that was before he came.

Ari started working for the School early on. And by seven years old, he transformed into his twenty-year-old human self. He rarely ever let it show, always staying in his patchy Eraser form. He made it his job to chase the flock, and I got news every so often with my eavesdropping skills.

He 'died' a few times, always really living, because the School had the technology to rebuild him whenever anything happened to him. Whenever he wasn't chasing the flock, he was always torturing me. He stayed. He was the one who fed me, cared for me. I owed my life to a monster, but I couldn't possibly be grateful.

With every passing day, he would beat me down a little more. I didn't crumble, because I don't take shit from confused, lonely idiots who don't know what the hell they want. But I got tired of it. And after the flock rescued me, I snapped. I still didn't forgive him for what he'd done. And I couldn't stand to be around him.

"Because Max made you come with me," he answered gruffly, slamming the large rock we'd found onto the machine in an attempt to break it. But the thing was harder to break than we originally thought. He was sweating, and growing more and more frustrated with the rock. "Damn it!" he started glowing, and I looked away. Once he was transformed, I looked back.

"What, no catch phrase this time?" I rolled my eyes. "You didn't have to transform. You could have gotten it in a few more tries," I grumbled. He ignored me, his claws slashing straight through the machine, rendering it useless. I wasn't going to lie, Ari in his human form was scary, feral. It was like he could forget who he was and turn on you at any moment.

"I didn't want to waste my time," he said as he faded back to his human form. I rolled my eyes in disgust. He picked up the remains of the machine easily and walked toward the door. "Come on, we're done here."

I was only too happy to comply. I half-ran out of the dark room, and followed him up the stairs. I thought it was incredibly funny that the glass city was turning out to have less glass than we thought. The ceilings were actually tinted so sunlight wouldn't hurt our eyes, and so were the outer walls. The floors were either carpeted or covered with other material to prevent people on the floors below from looking up.

I followed him up and down the hall into the room that he was staying in. It was almost as nice as mine, but not quite, to which I gave a small smirk. But it was really a hollow victory. "What are you doing?" I asked as he placed the mutilated machine under the bed. "The dumpsters are out back. What do you want to keep that thing for?"

And I switched into panic mode. "You're going to fix that thing and use it to take our wings off! You liar, you really are working for the School, and you only said those things to get us to believe you! I'm telling on you!" I yelled, not caring how childish it sounded. I turned around for the door.

"Hey, shut up for a minute!" he yelled, and I turned back around. "Look, on the off chance that Dr. Harrison decides to come back, the dumpster would be the first place that he'd look for the machine. If he takes it backs and fixes it up, we're done for. So, you're welcome, twerp." He grinned.

But I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth, and expanded my force field once again. I'd been practicing doing it _without _being threatened just for this moment. He was slammed back into the wall, and before he could blink, I was right in front of him with a force field around myself.

"_You _shut up for a minute," I growled. "Don't talk to me like we're friends, or that I've forgiven you for making my life miserable. I'm not your buddy, I'm not your pal, and if you _ever _talk to me in _any _manner that's less than formal, I'll make sure you never talk again!" I was practically on my toes yelling.

He stood up, and I backed up a bit, forgetting that I was safe in my bubble. "What happened to all that forgiving 'you can absolutely do it if you try' shit? I know that you don't like me, and you don't have to. But you're a little faker if you think that you still hate me."

I looked at him incredulously. "Do you not understand that you hurt me and the flock in every possible way? It's not something that just goes away! You've never apologized to _me, _and I haven't ever seen a good side of you like the flock has. It takes more work than this! So you can think what you want, but I will _never _forgive you!"

"You don't have to forgive me," he said icily. "You can hate me as much as you want. But you _do_ have to accept me, because those girls and I are the only thing standing between you all and your own personal graves. You can't do this without my help. And I'm not here to make you _forgive me_."

I shook my head. "You're the same as you were before. I thought you were more mature, but you're the same seven-year-old you've always been." He growled. "Shut up. I'm getting this out," I snarled. "If you keep pushing people away and abusing everyone around you, then _no one _will forgive you. And she'll figure out soon enough what a loser you are."

And I was gone, leaving him alone to think.

**Max POV **

"So what do you actually think of all this?" Iggy asked me. I looked down. We were sitting by the edge of the pool, and I was sitting on the slippery floor, swishing my feet around in the water. "What do you mean?" I asked, avoiding the question.

"Max, you know what I mean. Your _sister_ is back. You just found out that Jeb's not your father. Ella's not your sister. Ari never died. Dr. Harrison is evil. How exactly are you processing all of this? You're not freaking Wonder Woman." I rolled my eyes.

"I hate it," I admitted. "The last thing I needed was this. I already _knew _that Dr. Harrison was evil, but on top of that, now I have to deal with the drama of all of our siblings coming together, Ari and Emi arguing constantly with their love-hate, and the fact that I need to have a _serious _talk with both Jeb and my mom."

"So, like, everyday stuff, right?" he offered with a smile. That was one of the things to love about Iggy – we'd just come out of a tough battle, he'd almost died, and I'd almost broken up with him, and he still managed to be completely happy.

"Look, Max, compared to worrying about that battle, this is nothing. So we have to sort a few things out, big deal. We'll get to it all eventually. And we'll be able to save the world. I promise. Look at it this way – your sister can kick serious butt, you don't have an evil scientist for a dad, and your kick-ass sister will probably give Ari more than he bargained for."

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his slowly. And I felt relief wash through me for almost no reason when he started kissing me back, and my fingers wound into that familiar patch of his hair, and all I could think was that it was so good to be back like we had been before this mess had started.

"Wait," he mumbled, and pushed me back. Rejection flooded through my body. I was confused. "Max, is this really what you want?" he asked me.

I frowned. "Why would you – of course this is what I want."

He shook his head. "You're an indecisive person, Max. You really don't know what you want. You thought you wanted Fang, but you left him for me. And not too long after, you went back to him again. So if this isn't really what you want, leave."

I didn't move. I just kissed him again. And I smirked when he started kissing me back again. After about three minutes, he pulled away again. I gave an exasperated sigh. "Stop it, Max! Answer the question!"

"You are being such a hormonal girl," I frowned, and he glared. "You're making me feel less like your girlfriend and more like a rapist. Yes, Iggy, I love you and I made mistakes, some damn terrible mistakes, but right now, there's nowhere else I'd rather be. Are you happy now?"

"Then, why did you stay away from me when we defeated Angel? We could have been together, and you rejected me. Why?"

I sighed. "Iggy, would you believe me if I told you that I was scared?"

"No," he snorted. "You're the great Maximum Ride, and she never gets scared. It's, like, one of the twelve commandments or something." I rolled my eyes.

"There are _ten _commandments, Iggy." I bit my lip. "Look, after I broke up with Fang, I started to wonder what I did wrong. Because, well, he didn't do anything wrong, so it must have been me. And then when Angel tried to break us up, I started to think that if we did end up together, we just wouldn't work out anyway."

"Why?" he asked, confused.

"I don't know! It's just that, you know, I tend to be a little-"

"Controlling?"

"No-"

"Bossy?"

"No! I-"

"Arrogant?"

"Is there something you wanna tell me, Ig?"

"Sorry, sorry. Go on."

"Well…it just occurred to me that the only thing that's wrong in all of my relationships is…me." I looked down. "I can't make up my mind. I can't decide what I want. I flip-flop a lot. And on top of that, I have a responsibility to the world. So how am I supposed to be the best I can be to you?"

He threw his arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry about it, alright? Just…don't leave again. This isn't because of you. A lesser person would crumble under the stress. So don't beat yourself up about it."

I nodded. I heard footsteps down the hall, and I turned around to see Emi in the doorway. "Max, can I talk to you for a second?" she asked quietly, and I could tell from her tone that it was serious. I glanced at Iggy, and he nodded. I sighed before getting up and following her out the door.

**Ami POV **

"Yes, Boardwalk!" I shouted to no one in particular as I put the money down and picked up the little property card. "Which means that I have a monopoly on the blue ones and you all will have to pay me a ton of money when you land there."

"Um, yeah, that's kind of how the game works," Gazzy gave me a weird look. But I couldn't help it, I'd never played Monopoly before. "Plus, the blue ones actually aren't the best ones because people don't land on those ones enough. It's better to get the yellow ones or the orange ones."

"I don't care," I argued. "The blue ones are the most expensive, so they're the most fun to own."

"Wow, that's logic," Gazzy muttered.

"You're just jealous," I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Ami, what exactly do you remember about your childhood?" Angel asked me curiously as she moved her playing piece around the board and collected two hundred dollars for passing 'go'. "I mean, I don't even remember when I was little, so I don't remember you at all. But…do you remember me?"

She sounded hopeful. I smiled. She was like any other little kid that climbed onto their parent's lap and asked for a story about when they were a baby. And I was the closest thing to a parent that she had left. "Sure," I nodded, and she smiled back at me.

"Aren't we gonna play the game?" Gazzy asked, but I ignored him and sat down next to Angel. "When I was Gazzy's age…things were really happy. First of all, we were in a rich family, so we got everything we wanted. Any toy, any game, we had it all. You were a baby and Gazzy was a toddler, so I didn't pay as much attention to you as I should have."

I scanned my brain for anything I could remember, and I was surprised to remember a lot more than I expected to. "Mom and Dad weren't home a lot, so I usually watched you. That, or I forced you off on the maid. Usually, in front of my friends, I acted like you annoyed me. But really, you guys were a lot more important to me than that."

Gazzy stared longingly at the Monopoly board as I continued. "It was really scary for me when I came home that day. I had been at a sleepover with my friends when I came in the back door. I walked into the kitchen, and the first thing that I noticed was that one of the knives from the arrangement on the wall was missing."

By now, Gazzy was listening as closely as Angel was. "When I rushed into the sitting room, I saw blood on the floor. And then I saw Dad lying on the floor with a wound in his chest. But I couldn't find you guys, or Mom. I searched the entire house for you. I found a lot of dead servants, but I couldn't find you."

I sighed. "Now I know that after that, you guys were sold to the School by our mom. She gave you up willingly, and I was kidnapped on my own. She didn't want us anymore, and she wouldn't have come back for us. But the School was worried that she would try to get us back, or tell the world about them, so they had to kill her, too."

I looked up at them. "That's why I'm so happy that you guys are here now. You lived. So even though you're clearly not the same people that you were, I still have something from my old life, even if you don't remember it." I smiled.

"Can I ask you a question?" Angel asked hesitantly. I nodded. "Anything."

"Well…back when I was a baby…back when I was living with our parents and you…do you remember what my real name was?"

"Gazzy's name was Ethan, and your name was Andrea. We called you Andie," I smiled.

"Andie," she gave a small smile. "I like it."

**Max POV **

I followed Emi up to the top of the glass city, and sat down next to her on the edge of the roof. She sat for a few moments, staring out at the sunset, and I looked with her. I didn't really understand Emi. She acted like she hadn't wanted to be saved from the School, like she would rather be there than here with us.

"Max, I saw what happened with Iggy," she said quietly, and I looked up at her in confusion. "I saw how worried you're getting. You don't…you don't want to leave someone like him. He's good for you. Don't start doubting him just because things aren't going right. That's a mistake," she said quietly.

"Look, Emi, I know what happened between you and Ari. I know that you don't like it, and that you want him back. But if you don't tell him, nothing will ever change. If you give up on him…he'll give up on you. If you really love him, you should just tell him. I can't stand all this talk that won't change anything."

"How did you know that I was talking about Ari?" she sighed. "I'm sorry I'm being so repetitive. It's so typical for me to just pick the first jerk who talked to me. I know anyone could do better than him. But I-"

"But you love him anyway," I nodded. "I know. But we don't need to be worrying about things like love for now, okay? Dr. Harrison could be here any time. We need to be ready. If he gets his hands on that machine, then we're done."

"Max, it'll take him at least three months to rebuild everything. He lost all his Erasers, his plans failed, and it'll take him months to think of a new plan and re-make all those Erasers. He has a lot of work to do. He won't come after us until he has things all ready and he's sure that he'll win," she said, surprised.

"But…but where's he gonna go? This was his big hideout, and now we have it! We can't just stay here! He knows where we are! He could attack us…"

"With what?" she asked. "He doesn't have any weapons left. And he won't be back here for another few months. So I suggest that we use this time to plan, recuperate and train for the future. I hate to tell you, Max, but that battle wasn't the war."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that it's about to get a whole lot worse. But it's okay. Let's stay here. We don't have to move the flock just yet. Okay?"

**Umi POV **

Fang glanced from his quiet seat by the window over at Ami, Gazzy and Angel, who were busy talking and playing Monopoly. I didn't exactly know how to talk to him, after all, it wasn't like we were the two most talkative people on the planet, and I already creeped him out enough just by knowing his old name.

And I saw Fang's head snap to face Angel when she asked Ami what her old name was. He rolled his eyes and turned away, back to look outside the window. My eyes narrowed. "What's your problem?" I asked, and he flinched. "She should want to know her old name. It's normal."

"It's stupid," he growled. "That's not who we are anymore. That part of our lives is over. And I know you think that we're your siblings, but I don't believe that's the truth. You're just three teenagers who got experimented on just like the rest of us."

"And you're just a brat with a bad attitude! We remember you, stupid! And there's proof in the DNA that they got from Max and Emi. They are one hundred percent sisters, just like you and I are one hundred percent siblings. Whether you like it or not, you're stuck with us, and we're stuck with you!"

"You don't know anything about us," he snarled. "You can't just waltz in here and pretend like you know everything about us. Maybe we've changed in the last few years. So do us all a favor and get lost." He turned back to the window.

By now, Ami, Gazzy and Angel were staring at us in alarm. I never talked this much, and they knew it, and the fact that I was on my toes yelling at him made matters even worse. But it wasn't fair. After I was abducted, he was the only thing I'd thought about. That ungrateful brat.

"Are you kidding me? It's because of us that you're even alive! If we hadn't come to your rescue, you'd be dead right now! It's not like you did anyone any good by being useless with that wound in your side. You should freaking be thanking me, Lucas."

He turned around, fury in his eyes. "Don't call me that. I'm not your brother and I'm not your friend. I don't know you and you don't know me. So just shut up, because you don't know a damn thing about me."

"Don't I?" I glared. And I rolled up my shirt, revealing several long, newly healing scars in my side, the same side that Ari had scratched Fang in. "How much exactly _don't _I know about you, Fang?"

**Thanks for reading! And yes, the end was meant to confuse you. It will all make sense soon! Don't forget to leave me a review! ^^ **

**~Rachel**


	17. Maddening

**A/N - Sorry for the late update! I've been crazy busy starting school, and I also had a huge writer's block for this chapter! But I'm finished now, although it is a bit short. Forgive me! I don't really want to delete this story. :( Anyway, I've changed the names of the chapters to be kind of more...organized? xD **

**I'm Here for You **

**Chapter 17**

**Airi POV **

As soon as I was around the corner, I took off running. Ari deserved everything I'd said to him, and more. He deserved it if Emi didn't forgive him, and he certainly deserved to be alone for his entire life, with no one to love. So why did I feel so guilty? I knew why. Was I really so low as to crush someone who had no one, nothing?

It was sad seeing what I had been reduced to. But was I supposed to be the bigger person and just forgive him for what he'd done? He never once apologized to me, and I had been nothing but civil to him. So this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

Tears blurred my vision as I ran. So far, apart from the fact that we had beaten the Erasers, nothing good had come of Emi, Ami, Umi and Ari staying with the flock. Fang hated Umi for reminding him of a past that he didn't understand, and we were all feeling more crowded now. Not to mention the fact that Ari had been _chasing _them.

I just didn't understand Max's reasoning. Usually, I trusted her, no matter what. She was a good leader, and she seemed to know exactly what was best for the flock. But today, she seemed as reasonable as a delusional whitecoat.

I didn't care if we needed their help to save the world. It was Max's mission to save the world on her own, and that had been working out for us perfectly well. I didn't see why we needed their help to do something that we had set out to do alone in the first place.

Running down the halls, I knew my destination. I would find the flock, if only to tell them the truth about how Ari, if not the others, absolutely didn't belong here. They would see. I stopped at the end of the hallway, in the room where Dr. Harrison had been sitting in only a short while ago.

I was confused. Gazzy and Angel had totally dropped their game with Ami, and all three of them were staring at Fang and Umi, who were off to the side. She had yanked up her shirt, revealing several long, jagged scars. I gasped. I recognized those. They were the exact same scars that Fang had on his side, from Ari shredding his skin so many times.

My eyes narrowed as I remembered that bit. Yet another reason why Ari shouldn't be allowed to stay in the flock. I shook it off and inched over to take a seat next to Angel. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max and Emi enter the room, and they stopped dead in their tracks, just as I had done.

Umi and Fang were practically in the middle of an all-out war, and they didn't seem to notice or even care what was going on around them. Umi looked hurt, and Fang's face was a mix of contempt and rage. "How much exactly _don't _I know about you, Fang?" she practically snarled at him, jabbing one of the scars with a long finger.

He didn't look surprised. But then, Fang never showed any real emotion to anyone apart from me. He studied the scars evenly, and looked at her with that pretentious kind of smirk that she probably wanted to smack off with a baseball bat. "Wow, those are nice. What color crayon did you use for those?"

Oh, damn, Fang. She's taller than you, and yet you choose to play the smartass card? That's just begging to have your ass kicked. Angel snorted beside me, but Fang and Umi didn't break their little staring contest. Oh, right. It was kind of an intense situation.

"They're real, damn it!" she growled. "And you want to know the reason that I have them? It's because of you! This is all your damn fault!" Max coughed slightly, but Umi continued her rant. "The whitecoats couldn't just freaking let me die, could they?"

_If looks could kill_, I thought dully as Max got up and pushed Fang back, then Umi. "You have thirty seconds to explain to us _why the hell you have Fang's scars on your side. _After all the fucking knowledge we've had to take in over the last day or two, this better be pretty interesting," she spat.

Now it was _Fang _who looked like he wanted to hit _Max _with a baseball bat. "Fine, I'll keep it short and sweet," Umi rolled her eyes. "Here's the deal. When the whitecoats kidnapped Fang and I, I fought back, clawing the dirty bastards' eyes out, and long story short, I died."

Wow. Okay. Forgive me, but after hearing someone tell me something about how they _died _long ago and now are miraculously standing in front of me, I tend to get creeped out. I was half-expecting my great-grandmother to appear before us and sing show tunes. Not that I had any idea what she looked like, but hey.

Max slapped her forehead. "When I told you to keep it short, this is _not _what I meant. Start from the beginning. Now what exactly do you mean when you said that you _died_?" she seethed, looking like she would have liked nothing better than to grab something around the neck and beat Fang with it.

Umi rolled her eyes. "I ran at one of them and we got into a fight. And yes, I was in second grade, but I imagine that I was just a vicious little demon, alright?" she said irritably. "Anyway, it involved clawing him, spitting on him and biting him. He threw me off, just a little too hard, into my mom's grand piano."

She glared at Fang. "When I hit it, I should have been. I was really small, and I had too many broken bones. I could have healed from that, but I'd lost far too much blood. And I was in the School, in the hospital wing, when the whitecoats figured out that they could use _your _DNA to save me."

"How is that bad?" Fang asked in a bored tone. "If I saved your life, I believe the words you're looking for are 'thank you'," he said snidely. I groaned.

"Look here, you little runt," she picked him up by the shirt collar effortlessly, and I resisted the urge to laugh. She made Fang look like a shrimp. Not even a big shrimp. Like, one of those wimpy little shrimp with the veins removed and the tails chopped off.

"The thing is, I was in _great freaking pain_," she raised him a little higher with each word, "when you so kindly 'rescued' me. And so I had to _live _through said great freaking pain for months, which turned into _years_, before they thought it was safe to go ahead and give me wings."

"Explain the scars on your side," Max said wearily.

"Ooh, ooh!" Nudge exclaimed. "Is it like what happened to Fang happened to you? That would be so cool! What if you were eating a cupcake, and he could taste a cupcake because you were eating it! That would be awesome! Ew, but what if you guys were eating different things _at the same time_?" Max shot her a warning look, and she fell silent.

"God, no. This isn't a bad sitcom," Umi rolled her eyes. "Earlier this year, I made a stupid mistake. After eating, I did the dishes, back when we were living in a small house with only Dr. Harrison, and not here in the glass city. And one day, I cut my arm pretty badly on a knife that was in the soapy water."

Hm. That seemed kind of like running with scissors. Don't you get told your whole life not to do it? "Back then, I went to the emergency room, because I'd lost a lot of blood. I hadn't told Dr. Harrison, because I thought he would be mad, but the knife had stuck in a lot farther than I thought. And I couldn't have just ordinary human blood."

"So you got Fang's?" Gazzy asked, and she nodded. Everyone sure seemed a lot calmer now. For God's sake, this wasn't story time. "Dr. Harrison had them send some from the School. And it caused some kind of a reaction in my own blood, and just like the last time, it brought back all that pain."

She looked at him desperately. "Don't you understand? I've suffered for years because of you. I _just _got well enough to start moving around again. The first time, in the hospital, I _died_, and they brought me back to life because of you. I _want _to be _only _dead. I'm not supposed to be here."

"Define 'only dead'," Max ordered warily. Umi turned to face her. "I was already dead when they gave me Fang's blood. I was called back to life, but it didn't work out the way they'd planned. Don't you see? Because of him, I'm dead. I'm dead inside, just a body, a copy, a shadow of what I used to be. This is all his fault.

She shook her head. "This life is no picnic. And I can tell you that if you think that you know pain and fear, you have _no idea _what I felt during that time. No offense, but I've been through everything because of you, and I just practically saved you. You don't know anything. You don't have a clue."

And she was out the door in seconds. She didn't bolt like I had. Even after that outburst, she had her dignity as she walked from the room. She brushed past Ari quietly as he practically tripped over her, bewildered. "You realize that that's pretty much the most you're ever gonna hear her talk," Ami piped up.

Fang rolled his eyes and followed Umi out. I bit my lip. I considered running after him, but thought better of it. _What's happening to the flock? _

**Max POV **

I sat on the edge of the pool to keep from laughing as Gazzy wandered around the pool. "Marco!" he yelled for the thousandth time, still trying to find us with his eyes screwed closed as he ran into the wall, just millimeters from where Nudge was sitting.

"Polo!" we all shouted, and he groaned. "Guys, could you shout it one at a time or something?" he gave an exasperated sigh. What he didn't know was that none of us were specifically inside the pool. Gazzy backed up from where he was standing, only to run into the back wall.

"Boogley-boogley," Iggy whispered in his ear, and Gazzy jumped about a food off the pool floor. His hand whirled around, but Iggy had vanished soundlessly and was now on the other side of the pool, sitting next to me. "Marco!" Gazzy whimpered, and was rewarded with a deafening "Polo!"

Angel proceeded to make several splashing noises in the water behind him, and he turned around, lunging at Angel's feet, which were retracted quickly. "You guys, there's six of you!" He whined. "There's no way you could all have this much room!" Well, the fun of it was that it was the biggest flipping pool you ever saw, so he was wrong.

I glanced at Emi and Ami, who were giggling like mad. He lunged toward the sound of their voices, and they jumped away from the side as Nudge broke into another chorus of her High School Musical/Justin Bieber songs, which were loud enough to wake sleeping children in Korea.

Before she started to dance, Iggy promptly walked over and pushed her in. Soaked and sputtering, she swam frantically as Gazzy chased after her, laughing maniacally. She scrambled up the steps to the pool and proceeded to stick her arm in the water and splash plenty as she clambered out.

I snickered as Gazzy tripped over the steps. And how, you ask, had I managed to possibly be okay with this? Simple. This was one sixteenth of the payback that Gazzy had in store for him after all the pranks that he had pulled on me over the years. How could I say no?

The door to the pool opened as Airi walked in and set down her towel. She noticed the six of us out of the pool with one particularly lost Gazzy wandering around and calling out, "Marco" hopelessly. "Why is Gazzy the only one in the pool?" she asked, puzzled. We all groaned as Gazzy's eyes flew open and realized that he'd been tricked.

"You ruined it!" Iggy cried, throwing himself on the ground dramatically. Gazzy proceeded to pull him into the water by his strawberry-blonde hair. "Sorry," Airi said tiredly, walking over to the edge and sticking her feet in. She still looked as depressed as ever.

"Fang still have a stick up his butt?" Nudge asked bluntly, and Airi nodded. "He won't talk to me, and I can't get Umi to talk, either, surprise surprise. Honestly, those are the two people who should never, _ever _get in fights."

"What about Ari?" I asked.

"Who cares?" she glared at me. "Max, you can keep him in the flock if you want to, but I swear to God, hell will freeze over before I ever accept him, let alone come to like him." She looked down. "Fang feels the same as you do," I sighed. "Sulking's not going to help anything."

"Oh, and like keeping him around is going to help us a whole lot?" she rolled her eyes. "Look, Max, why should we trust him? Why should we believe anything that he says, after what he did to us at the School? If anything, that's proof that he's a liar, and a fake. And just because he's a little easier to look at now, it doesn't mean that we can trust him."

Emi glared at her. "I've known Ari for over a year, and unlike you, I know the truth, which is the same as what he told you. He's been tricking everyone, but it's because the School wants to help you. So quit running your mouth off without knowing what the heck you're talking about."

"I've known that beast for almost four years," Airi snarled, "and he's made my life miserable ever since I first met him. If you want to believe that he's the same person, when in reality, he probably _lied _to you, keep believing what you want to believe. You're the one that's gonna get hurt in the end. It's no skin off my back."

Emi got up and walked from the room, a particular glint in her eye. I couldn't tell if it was because she was so convinced she was right or if she was secretly wondering if she was wrong. I didn't know who to believe anymore. I was usually so sure of myself.

There was something strange going on. It was doubtful that it would be three months before Dr. Harrison's new army found us. I was going to prove it.

**Airi POV **

When Emi left, it hit me like a train. I couldn't believe it took me this long to realize it, but it just wasn't about all of our differences. We'd had enough fighting for one lifetime, when we were supposed to be repairing the world, not tearing it down with our conflict.

Ari did horrible things in my past. But one day, I would forgive him. It was just in my nature to forgive him. I couldn't erase what he'd done. Neither could he. All I could do was move forward, and hope that he was strong enough to do the same.

I turned to look at Max. She was looking more worn out than I'd ever seen her. In the short time that I'd known her, I realized that even though she didn't _want _to do any of it, she had her heart set on saving the world, and she had been succeeding before this whole mess started.

It was time for her to _stop _fighting. And if I could help her at all, I would. "You know, Max," I commented, still staring at the door, "I don't like her. I don't like Umi, either. I'm not that thrilled about Ari being here, and you know that."

I took a deep breath. "But," I continued, "Fighting like wild animals isn't going to fix anything either. I want the flock to be strong and happy instead of fighting and down." I chuckled. "So I'm going to find my favorite emo mutant and tell him to get his ass in gear."

Without a backward glance, I walked from the room. I didn't know what Fang's problem was with Umi, but I understood her pain and anger towards Fang. If there was any way in the world that I could get those two to work together, I would have to find it.

In seconds, I was facing his room. The lights were off, but the door was locked, so I imagined that he was hiding somewhere in the dark, blending in perfectly, of course. And how, you ask, did I plan on getting in there without a key? Simple.

In one fluid motion, my hands swung out in front of me, and the familiar flash of multicolored light flew from my fingertips. The force field expanded quickly, and hit the glass door, full force ahead. It shattered, the shards of glass hitting the force field and falling to the floor.

I stepped over the broken glass cautiously and walked inside, flicking on the light switch uneasily to see Fang sitting on the couch, anger and irritation stamped on his face. "What the hell was that for?" he asked. "I can't just get a brand new glass door!"

"Think about that next time you decide to be a pissy jerk," I grumbled, plopping down on the couch next to him. "Look, you're worrying everyone. No one has seen Umi, because you were such an ass to her, and Max can't even settle down because it's one bad thing after another!"

I looked down. "I told you that I don't know how long I'm going to stay with you," I said softly. "I don't know what's going to happen. But for spending this short time with you, I'm happier here than with anywhere else. So tell me why you seem different now. What's changed?"

His hand clenched into a fist, but I knew that he wouldn't dare hurt me. "You don't understand," he said through clenched teeth. "Then help me to," I pleaded, and he sighed.

"You don't understand," he repeated. "My whole life, I've had this whole idea of how things went. I was born in a test tube, and I didn't have a family. The School was evil, and we didn't have any other enemies. Ari was evil."

He slammed his fist down onto the coffee table. "But then three girls that I don't know if I can trust come in and everything changes. All of a sudden, I have a past, and a sister that I had no idea existed. The School is really on our side, and even though I still believe that Ari's evil, I have no choice but to believe him."

He shook his head. "So everything that I thought I knew is a lie. Everything that I was ever told and believed for myself is false. All of a sudden, I just have to unconditionally believe a new reality. And I just can't do that."

I put a hand on his shoulder. "I get it, okay? But you have to know how she feels, too. She's supposed to be dead, because of you, so now she's neither alive nor dead. Do _you _know what that's like? Everything changes, Fang. But right now, she needs you most of all."

"She's right." I whirled around to see Umi in the doorway. I wondered vaguely if she shared Fang's ability to disappear into her surroundings. "Lucas, I know what you're going through."

He rolled his eyes. "Oh, really? Did the psychotic voodoo monkey in the sky send _your _long-lost sister –who's half-dead, by the way- to tell you that your real name is Lucas, and that your parents were murdered when you were younger, that you had a real life outside of all of this?"

She chuckled darkly. "Your real name _is_ Lucas. And all of that is true. But don't think that I don't know what it's like to change, Lucas. The 'voodoo monkey in the sky' didn't exactly give me the best here. When I last saw you, you were a sweet kid, and you loved me. You were my family. And now you're this emo teenager who hates me."

"I don't hate you," he muttered. "I'm just…confused."

"We all are," she answered. "But I didn't come back from the dead for you just to see you give up when things change. We're going to play Dr. Harrison's little game, and we're going to win. But I need you to be on my side, Lucas."

"Stop calling me that," his eyebrow twitched.

"Alright," she sighed, and turned to leave. "One step at a time…Lucas." She grinned and walked out the door.

Iggy poked his head around the corner as Fang groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Sister problems?" he asked nonchalantly. Fang groaned in response.

"Don't worry," he tossed his arm around my shoulder. "You get used to it."

**Thanks for reading! I know that I may have lost some readers with the updating thing...sorry! From now on, updates will be every week and a half or so. ^^ **

**~Rachel**


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